G Harrison
Cafcass National Office
3rd Floor
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
21 Bloomsbury Street
London
Your ref: CAF 17-86
WC1B 3HF
Our ref: Gov/CAF 17-86
Tel 0300 456 4000
25 July 2017
Dear G Harrison
Re: Freedom of Information Request
Thank you for your email of 06 July 2017. You made the following requests for information:
On the 1st July 2017 you published your "Guidance on the use of professional time to
benefit children" as a PDF on your website here:
https://www.cafcass.gov.uk/media/317939/guidance_on_the_use_of_professional_ti
me_to_benefit_children_010717.pdf
In your guidance you make a reference to a template for Cafcass officers to use in
future and you include the template at the end of that PDF document.
In the document you reference the template by saying:
"Each child impact analysis will include a structured professional assessment and
recommendation by Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru and may also include some brief
casework. The new template for this purpose is set out at the end of this guidance,
though there may be further minor changes to the template to reflect operational
differences between England and Wales. In other local areas, traditional s7 reports
will be produced for the time being, pending the new proposed interventions being
trialled and evaluated. Child impact reports are not a lighter version of a s7 report.
They are a more intensive child focussed version"
With particular regard to your statement that "They are a more intensive child
focussed version" I would be grateful if you would provide the information that I am
requesting below:
In Section 3 of the template you say:
Baroness Tyler of Enfield Chair
Anthony Douglas CBE Chief Executive
Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, is a non-departmental body of the Ministry of Justice
Cafcass National Office, 3rd Floor, 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3HF
"3. Child Impact Analysis
• Set out the evidence base for the impact of the issues in the case on the individual
child • Analyse the impact, including from child observation • Include and analyse the
child’s wishes and feelings, as appropriate bearing in mind the child’s age and
developmental stage."
Please would you provide details of all training you provide your staff with that relates
to Child Impact Analysis including dates on which that training was commissioned,
dates it was deployed, completion rates in 2016 and in 2017, and a copy of any such
training.
Cafcass does not run training for practitioners that specifically focuses on
Child Impact Analysis as all training for our staff underpins our focus on being
child-centred and looking at the issues from the perspective of the child.
As stated in the
Guidance on the use of professional time to benefit children
‘new child impact reports which will be piloted for up to six months in Essex,
York and North Yorkshire and North Wales.’ As part of the pilots training wil
be given to staff on how to complete the child impact reports.
Please see the Cafcas
s Operating Framework (sections 4.19-4.24) which sets
out what Cafcass practitioners should have regard to when working on a
section 7 report. Cafcass practitioners also use a
standard form of report
which provides template headings for each subsection
In Section 4 of the template you say:
"4. Structured Professional Assessment
• Bring together a succinct account of the child’s experiences and how their safety
and well- being can best be promoted • Relate the evidence base back to the
application"
Please would you provide details on any new training that you may have provided
post January 2017 on coached children and/or on parental influence over children's
expressed wishes and feelings. If you do have new training on this please provide
dates on which that training was commissioned, dates it was deployed, completion
rates in 2017, and a copy of any such training.
Cafcass has not implemented any new training since January 2017 on the
issues of coached children or parental influence over children.
Baroness Tyler of Enfield Chair
Anthony Douglas CBE Chief Executive
Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, is a non-departmental body of the Ministry of Justice
Cafcass National Office, 3rd Floor, 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3HF
Cafcass has a Coached Children Knowledge Bite and a Post-Separation
Control: the impact on the child Knowledge Bite which were sent to you in
response to FOI request CAF17-61 and CAF17-68. Knowledge Bites are
succinct summaries of key issues on specific topics and list relevant resources
available to staff.
Cafcass has an ‘off the shelf’ training module on ‘High Conflict Child
Arrangements Disputes’, which explores the risk to contact and the key
elements in high conflict contact disputes and the impact on children. Off the
shelf training packages are intended for Service Managers to deliver locally to
their teams at team level through team meetings and development day.
We also encourage staff to use the
‘impact of parental conflict tool’ in their
direct work with children, where this is relevant.
In March 2017, Anthony Douglas, Chief Executive of Cafcass, led a live
webinar discussion on parental alienation attended by 64 staff members,
providing participants with the opportunity to share and discuss their
experience of cases featuring alienating behaviours. This included discussion
of child impact analysis to set out the evidence base indicating parental
alienation.
Staff also have access to resources and research via our extensive in-house
library service, to assist practitioners in being able to assess the presence of
implacable hostility in private law cases.
In the final paragraph of that template you say:
"In compiling this report, I have had regard in particular to the welfare checklist as
required by Rule 16.20/16.33 Family Procedure Rules 2010 and I have applied a
welfare checklist analysis to the facts of the case throughout."
and you then ask the Cafcass officer to sign their name under this declaration.
Please would you provide details on the training you provide to train your staff that
the Welfare of the Child is paramount to the expressed and ascertained "wishes and
feelings of the child". Again, please provide dates on which that training was
commissioned, dates it was deployed, completion rates in 2016 and in 2017, and a
copy of any such training.
Cafcass does not run training for practitioners that specifically focuses on the
Welfare of the Child as an isolated issue, as all training for our staff underpins
Baroness Tyler of Enfield Chair
Anthony Douglas CBE Chief Executive
Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, is a non-departmental body of the Ministry of Justice
Cafcass National Office, 3rd Floor, 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3HF
our focus on being child-centred and looking at the issues from the
perspective of the child. The role of Cafcass is to safeguard and promote the
welfare of children. Practitioners assess children’s needs and write reports or
a case analysis to the court recommending how a child’s welfare can best be
promoted and safeguarded, with reference to the
Welfare Checklist. As stated
in our
Operating Framework section 1.2, our practitioners need to be aware of
and understand all relevant legislation and regulations, including th
e Welfare
Checklist.
All social work staff are required to complete six core in-house training
modules upon joining the organisation, which will be completed within the first
six months:
Risk and Harm in Cafcass;
Legal Context and Court Skills;
Case Work Start to Finish;
Interviewing Skills in Cafcass;
Child Sexual Exploitation;
Introduction to Private Law/Public Law
These teach our practitioners how to use the correct tools (such
as Wishes
and Feelings) and skills with both parents and children to ensure they focus
on all the relevant issues (including the impact of the proceedings on the child
within the context of their age and stage of development) in order to achieve
the best possible outcome for the children involved. These
tools support
practitioners in their direct work with children and families; these documents
can be seen in our
leaflets and resources for working with children, and also in
Sections C & D of our
forms, templates and tools page. They help
practitioners prepare a report to the court on what they consider to be in the
best interests of the child, which wil include child’s welfare.
The Cafcass
Operating Framework sections 1.16 – 1.22 set out how Cafcass
works with children and young people. Cafcass has
a Child Protection Policy
which
sets out the requirements placed on Cafcass staff to to safeguard and
promote the welfare of children. The policy is mandatory reading as part of the
induction process for all staff.
We hope that you feel your question has been answered effectively. If you are unhappy with
the decisions made in relation to your request, you may ask for an internal review to be
undertaken. If you are dissatisfied with the way the internal review is handled or with the
final decision made at that review about the information released, you are free to contact the
Information Commissioner’s Office
(https://ico.org.uk/):
Baroness Tyler of Enfield Chair
Anthony Douglas CBE Chief Executive
Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, is a non-departmental body of the Ministry of Justice
Cafcass National Office, 3rd Floor, 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3HF
Post
Fax
Information Commissioner's Office
01625 524 510
Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Tel
Wilmslow,
0303 123 1113
Cheshire
E-mail
SK9 5AF
xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Governance Team
Cafcass
xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx
Baroness Tyler of Enfield Chair
Anthony Douglas CBE Chief Executive
Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, is a non-departmental body of the Ministry of Justice
Cafcass National Office, 3rd Floor, 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3HF
Baroness Tyler of Enfield Chair
Anthony Douglas CBE Chief Executive
Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, is a non-departmental body of the Ministry of Justice
Cafcass National Office, 3rd Floor, 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3HF