Arrangements to assist CAFCASS pending implementation of the Family Justice Review

Friday, 01 October 2010 11:00

Attached are the arrangements to assist CAFCASS pending implementation of the Family Justice Reviewgreement which has been reached between CAFCASS and the relevant government Departments and which replaces the Interim Guidance, which expires on 30 September 2010.

The thrust of the Agreement is that all involved in the system should work cooperatively to operate the Public Law Outline1 locally within an environment of increasing and complex workloads to make the most of available resources.

In deciding what directions should be made in relation to the work of the guardian, the court will usually hear from all parties and especially the representative of the child and will above all take into account that nothing in the Agreement fetters the responsibility of the children’s guardian independently to represent the interests of the child in accordance with the statute and court rules.

It is expected that the judges and magistrates who have to manage cases and make the decisions in relation to them will understand and respect the changing operational processes of Cafcass. In turn Cafcass recognises that it is the essence of judicial case management that judges and magistrates identify particular pieces of work which they wish the guardian to undertake and that if they regard it necessary from time to time to specify the manner in which such work is undertaken, they have the power to do so.

Dowload the Agreement here