Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service

CAFCASS officers attend Family Court hearings to give independent expert evidence about the welfare of children. In public law (care, supervision, placement orders) they act as Children's Guardian, taking the child's interests forward in proceedings. In private law (child arrangements after divorce or separation) they prepare safeguarding letters and section 7 welfare reports. CAFCASS is funded by the Ministry of Justice and operates independently of social services and the family courts. CAFCASS Cymru is the Welsh equivalent.

In practice, most parents meet Cafcass twice: once by telephone shortly after an application is issued, and again if the court orders a fuller report. The first contact is a safeguarding call. It is short, it happens before the first hearing, and its purpose is to check police and local authority records and ask about any risk. Parents often treat it as a chance to argue their case and are then surprised that the letter to the court says little about the merits — that is by design, because at that stage the officer is screening for risk, not forming a view.

Worked example: Sunita applies for a child arrangements order. A Cafcass officer rings both parents for about half an hour each, runs checks, and files a safeguarding letter before the first hearing. Because both parents raise concerns about the other, the judge orders a section 7 report. Over the following weeks the officer meets each parent, observes the children with each of them, speaks to the children separately in an age-appropriate way, and contacts the school and GP. The report recommends a phased increase in overnight stays. The judge is not bound by that recommendation but must give reasons for departing from it, which in practice makes the report the most important document in the case.

The pitfalls are worth anticipating. Cafcass officers are social workers, not judges, and cannot make or change orders. Anything you say may be recorded and shared, and there is no confidentiality as against the court. Criticising the other parent at length tends to read badly; focusing on the children's routine, needs and your practical plans reads well. If you disagree with a report, the remedy is to file a written response and to question the officer at the hearing, not to complain to Cafcass — its complaints process cannot alter a recommendation once it is before the court.

Cafcass operates under the Children Act 1989, provides the children's guardian in public law cases, and works alongside the looked after child framework. Read our guides to child arrangements and MIAMs and family mediation, which you will usually need to attend before applying.