When she is not helping to safeguard children, Clare Walton is climbing the walls – quite literally.
A rock-climbing instructor, Walton ran an indoor mountain wall and sold accessories at a sports centre before she joined Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service.
Walton is also an experienced respite foster carer and says that with Cafcass she has found her ideal job, one that is both challenging and fast paced, and makes a difference to children.
As a team leader, she manages the call centre at Cafcass’s national business centre (NBC) in Coventry. She describes it as the “very epicentre” of the organisation, which provides an independent voice for more than 130,000 children who go through the family courts each year, helping to advise the court on what is in their best interest.
“Everyone here cares for children; it doesn’t matter if you have had no involvement [with] children when you arrive, you get drawn in,” she says. “We are here to represent the child. Every day you go home knowing that you have contributed to something very important, and that feels different to the feeling when you’ve just sold a pair of boots,” says Walton, a psychology graduate of Coventry University.
Cafcass is the biggest employer of social workers in the UK. It’s appointed by the courts to represent children in both public law cases – for example, following abuse, or adoption – and private law cases, usually divorce and family breakdown.
Family court advisers are the most visible part of the service. However, last year, Ofsted drew attention to the people behind the scenes – the staff at the NBC and the 33 local offices who support them.
Ofsted ranked Cafcass “outstanding” and said it found unusually high levels of staff satisfaction, commenting in its report: “Despite having high workloads, staff who spoke to inspectors felt extremely positive about working for an organisation in which they are treated well, as professional adults, and their views and needs are important and highly valued.”
It added: “The NBC is exceptionally well-managed, effective and efficient. This means that Cafcass’s services for children benefit from the support of a coherent and expertly coordinated range of centralised systems. Business services and social work staff are skilled and committed.”
Julia Dark, for example, although not a social worker, manages the teams, making sure that all the relevant information is collected, parties are kept informed and the process runs smoothly. “All the calls are routed through our call centre, where the staff need to have good customer service and problem-resolving skills,” she says.
“Then we have the early intervention teams, who start off the process when the courts first appoint us to represent a child, and the longer-term teams, who handle the more complicated cases.
“We have access to a range of databases to enable us to complete appropriate checks on people involved with the children, and have staff all over the country supporting the family court advisers.
“The sense that you are making a difference is what gets you up in the morning, because every case is making it better for the child,” says Dark, who rose up through the organisation from office manager to senior business services manager.
As part of the emerging talent programme, staff are encouraged to come up with new ideas and processes, and as part of her emerging talent development, Dark led a project that resulted in quicker reports for complex cases.
Emerging talent is open for everyone at Cafcass to apply for, as demonstrated by call handler Mark Collins, who had worked in supply chain roles for more than 20 years, most latterly in the automotive industry, before joining Cafcass. “I felt my priorities had started to change. I wanted something more socially useful,” he says.
“There are no barriers here – I’ve just been recruited for emerging talent. I did think being older I might not be suited, but my manager was more than happy to put me forward for the programme.”
“I find it invigorating – it has refreshed me. We are dealing with children’s lives. If someone doesn’t get the piece they need for their car, they can always get it next week, but with children you have to get it right first time.”
Cafcass staff also work on an area basis, advising local family courts and keeping in touch remotely. Donna Daubney is the business services team leader for the early intervention team based in Exeter, Devon, but her team spans from Truro in Cornwall to Kent.
“Our role is not just about making sure that the child sees the other parent on a Friday afternoon; it’s about making sure the child’s voice is being heard throughout their case and that things move along quickly,” she says.
“Parents can get caught up in their own issues and forget what the child needs, and that is where we come in. When we satisfactorily close a case and it’s the best outcome for the child, that is the joy of the job.”
