Victoria Soeder
Cafcass National Office
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
3rd Floor
21 Bloomsbury Street
London
WC1B 3HF
Your ref: CAF 19-179
Our ref: Gov/CAF 19-179
Tel 0300 456 4000
19 November 2019
Dear Ms Soeder,
Re: Freedom of Information Request - Internal Review
Thank you for your email of 24 October 2019. You requested an internal review of the
response to your Freedom of Information request (CAF19-179) which was sent to you on 24
October 2019. An internal review involves a review of the decision on disclosure in the
original response and the way in which the request was handled. The internal reviewer can
either uphold or overturn the original decision.
Melanie Carew, Head of Legal who was not party to the original decision on whether to
release the information, has now conducted the internal review. Please see their response
below.
In your original request (CAF19-179) you requested:
1. All tools, guidance and assessment processes and information/guidelines CAFCASS
make available to FCA’s specifically written by CAFCASS for grandparents October 2018 -
Present
2. All information CAFCASS provide pertains specifically to FCA’s working with grandparents
3. Please provide all information available within CAFCASS to include guidelines for
assessing grandparents mental health
In our response it was explained that Cafcass does not have tools, guidance and
assessment processes and information/guidelines specifically written by Cafcass for
grandparents. Detail was given regarding the Harmful Conflict guide, which forms part of the
Child Impact Assessment Framework, as the Harmful Conflict guide states the following
under ‘Factors which ‘buffer’ the impact of conflict’:
Sally Cheshire CBE Interim Chair
Jacky Tiotto 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 | DX Cafcass 310101 Bloomsbury 11
Beneficial relationships with siblings and/or wider family members. “Having a close
grandparent relationship matters particularly for grandchildren whose parents have divorced.
Grandparents from both sides of the family could be important resources for children, and
good relationships with grandparents might help them to cope better with the divorce or
separation of their parents.” (Jappens, 2018)
It was also explained that does not Cafcass does not have guidelines, policies or other
information for assessing grandparents’ mental health.
You were also provided with Cafcass’ resource lists regarding grandparents which lists the
resources available to staff from the Cafcass library on topics regarding grandparents.
In your request for an internal review you stated:
INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION: GRANDPARENTS
“THIS” says it ALL
I requested information on grandparents and CAFCASS send me an attachment in
“HARMFUL CONFLICT” !!!
You have NO tools and FCA’s access a library like any person can ?
This is the last straw: your FCA’s are not qualified to assess mental health but they are and
without due diligence.
CAFCASS are applying generic one size fits all policies and procedures to grand parents
which is INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION and AGE DISCRIMINATION . CAFCASS are
applying neutral policies and arrangements and applying them to ‘everyone’ whatever their
age/health condition.
It is recognised that older grandparents have ‘unique mental health’ needs that require
specialist skil s ‘distinct’ from the general adult population therefore your GENERIC
FRAMEWORK is putting grandparents at a disadvantage. Older people face ‘double
whammy discrimination here because of age and disability.
Indirect discrimination is legally unjustifiable. This a sickening and horrifying what CAFCASS
are applying. Grandparents health is distinctly different clinically from working age people.
Grandparents with Alzheimer’s, Anorexia, Brain injury, delerium, Huntingtons disease
,Parkinson’s disease,stroke are dramatical y different, contextual y differerent from the
mental health of separating/divorcing parents and you have NO TOOLS to assess.
Sally Cheshire CBE Interim Chair
Jacky Tiotto 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 | DX Cafcass 310101 Bloomsbury 11
This added to the process of LEEDS FCA undertaking FPR 22 in more ways than witness
statement to include sitting listening and analysing recording without directions of the court of
material,and Exhibits not shared with parties. This is the last straw.
Information on too many FOIA shows CAFCASS haven’t a clue what they’re doing, untrained
unqualified.
This organisation can not based upon this indirect discrimination and all mentioned provide
an accurate report to the a Judiciary; inaccurate data throughout ECMS and providing
inaccurate ‘meaningless’ reports as , based on NO tools but Indirect discrimination.
This is disgraceful for this shameless national organisation. The framework applied to
grandparents is a sham this FOIA says it ALL .
The onus is now on CAFCASS to justify this indirect discrimination.
As stated in our original response, the use of tools is a matter for the practitioner’s
professional judgement. Although Cafcass does not have tools specifically for working with
grandparents, Cafcass tools can be used in a variety of cases and with a range of service
users. Cafcass has brief guidance for staff on the use of each tool, which can be seen on
our
website next to the link to each individual tool. This provides a guide to which tool could
be selected in which circumstance and for what purpose, which will be identified by the
practitioner when planning a case. Guidance for the use and choice of tools which are
relevant to individual cases is also set out in the C
afcass Operating Framework section 10.
Cafcass has no guidelines, policies or other information for assessing grandparents’ mental
health and does not have tools, guidance and assessment processes and
information/guidelines specifically written by Cafcass for grandparents. As Cafcass does not
have the information requested, the original response to this Freedom of Information request
is upheld.
We hope that you feel your question has been answered effectively. 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/):
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
Sally Cheshire CBE Interim Chair
Jacky Tiotto 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 | DX Cafcass 310101 Bloomsbury 11
Yours sincerely,
Governance Team
Cafcass
xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Sally Cheshire CBE Interim Chair
Jacky Tiotto 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 | DX Cafcass 310101 Bloomsbury 11