Each year Cafcass (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) helps over 145,000 children and young people who are going through care or adoption proceedings, or whose parents have separated and are unable to agree about future arrangements for their children. Cafcass' role is to put the child first in family proceedings, forming an independent assessment for the courts on what each child needs to secure a positive and stable future.
Cafcass works with families once an application has been made to court. Its professionally qualified social work practitioners, called family court advisers, work exclusively in the family courts. They provide judges with the advice, information and recommendations they need to make a safe decision about each child's future.
Cafcass gives a voice to children and young people's wishes and feelings, is independent of all parties in the court process and operates independently of the courts, social services, education and health authorities and all similar agencies.
Cafcass is the largest employer of social workers in the country and its workforce of around 2,000 includes some of the most highly skilled practitioners in England. Each and every member of staff is committed and dedicated to building better futures for the children and young people they work with.
In recent years growing demand has resulted in an increased workload in both public and private law. Cafcass has not only met this demand but, through innovation in the systems it uses and in the business processes underpinning its work, has lead the sector in terms of staff support and benefits, reducing staff sickness and other improvements in performance.
Cafcass is represented on the Family Justice Board and has contributed towards reducing delay in family proceedings, as well as developing services to encourage cooperative parenting after separation. The Family Justice Young People's Board is a development of a Young People's Board established by Cafcass in 2006, to give young people a greater voice and ensure that there is a focus on their needs across the system.
Content on this page is produced and controlled by Cafcass
