For Alina Albai, a Cafcass family court adviser, having the opportunity to be child-centred and flexible in how she carries out her work are just two of the aspects which fuel her enthusiasm for the role. Here she gives insight into her work from the perspective of someone recently joining the organisation.
Albai joined Cafcass Reading in September 2014 from her role in a local authority risk referral and assessment team. “I’d spent 10 years with various local authorities and had reached senior practitioner level. I didn’t want to make the move into management as my interest is fixed in practice but felt I needed to try something new to challenge myself, enhance my knowledge and move forward in my career. I’d heard positive things about Cafcass as an employer from people I knew who were already working there, so decided this was the next step for me.”
All new practitioners undertake a training programme on joining the organisation, covering a wide range of areas relevant to the Cafcass family court adviser role. The training is a mixture of formal training sessions and e-learning modules, as well as shadowing opportunities and being assigned a local mentor to support the induction process. Now, six months in, Albai has built up experience in private law and is now beginning work on public law cases.
“Cafcass trusts its employees and I’ve been allowed a new freedom in my work,” says Albai.
“We work individually on the whole and are encouraged to take responsibility over our work – have real ownership of our reports. It requires you to be confident in your professional judgement and recommendations to court.”
This approach “promotes people to grow and develop as responsible professionals”, Albai adds.
“Equally, all the support is in place and I know I can speak to my manager or others in my team if I have any questions or want to discuss a case – it’s not intrusive and I don’t feel micro-managed. Cafcass is a national employer so I’ve also had the opportunity to meet practitioners from other parts of the country and see how they work and find out about local initiatives.”
Like Albai, practitioners at Cafcass will often work across both private and public law, something that appeals to many. The variation, she says, keeps things interesting and helps to stretch the core social work skills acquired through training and experience.
“With my experience in child protection, I thought my interest would lie predominantly in public law, but private law is fascinating. It really calls on your negotiating, dispute resolution and other social work skills to make a difference in the case.
“To me private law is not only about completing your section 7 report and filing it with the court, it’s about supporting parents to get over their conflict, opening their eyes and getting them to reflect on the impact it has on their children – ‘this is what it’s doing to them’.
“I remember a discussion early on in my induction, about report writing, and being given the advice: ‘Put yourself in the child’s shoes – how do you feel’, and that is how I try to write all of my reports and conduct my contact with families.”
Albai has seen the positive difference her work makes to families with some of her recent cases reaching conclusion more quickly for the children involved and in their best interests.
“The last three hearings I reported for looked like they would be contested by the parties, however after speaking to them at court we were able to resolve the issues and the orders were made by consent. It was a really nice feeling helping the parents leave court having reached an agreement which reflected their children’s best interests. I’m proud to help make a difference to the families I work with in this way.”
As well as her negotiation and dispute resolution skills, Albai still calls on her child protection experience in her private law work, “In private law cases we are also often the only organisation involved and risk, especially emotional harm, may have gone unmanaged by anyone else prior to our involvement.”
Turning the conversation to her work in public law, Albai says: “I have now been allocated three cases. This work involves reading each family’s story, appraising the local authority’s work, overseeing the case and making sure everyone is child centred. I enjoy working with the network of professionals involved with the family. It’s important we work together with the court to ensure that the timescales for the child are respected.”
For her public law work, Albai has a mentor who she meets with regularly, which she says has been helpful in providing a sounding-board and supporting her as she picks up these cases.
So what does a regular day at the office entail? “My days can vary. Sometimes I will have appointments with parents and children, so I’ll spend much of it carrying out interviews and direct work using some of our tools for children and families. Other days it can be report writing or a mixture of both. I also have days in court where I will give evidence and provide clear child-focused advice to the judge. Giving evidence can seem a little daunting at first but you’re just using your social work skills and we’re given court skills training to focus this. Cafcass has a good working relationship with the courts and we are respected as professionals which is empowering.”
The technology provided to Cafcass practitioners also plays a part in supporting flexible practice: “I have my tablet which I can use to write on when I’m out and about and for my work with children. We’re also able to access all of the information we need remotely, so when I need to I can work from the court or at home.”
It’s clear from our conversation how passionate Albai is about her job. “So far, I’ve loved every minute with Cafcass. I’m the type of person that always seeks to learn and I’m looking forward to the next challenges. There’s room for progression, either into management or practice with the enhanced practitioner role, but I’m still learning and am focusing on being the best I can be before thinking about moving ahead.”
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