CAFCASS

The Criminal justice and Court Services Bill, as expected, includes proposals for the new Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service into which the family court welfare service will be absorbed. Jane Kennedy, a parliamentary Under-Secretary and Paul Boateng, the Prisons/Probate Minister in an article in The Times of 16 May responded to what they regarded as ill-informed and misguided criticism. They denied that the service will largely depend on criminal probation officers untutored in welfare work. Probation officers traditionally have a social work qualification and those working as family court welfare officers receive additional training in working with children and families and preparing reports. The right to cross-examine court welfare officers at the discretion of the court will be confirmed in the statute. They resisted the argument for a training manual on the grounds that each case must be treated on its merits, which does not lend itself to an approach based on a manual which seeks to be prescriptive about the level and nature of contact to be recommended in particular circumstances. Attacks on the ‘secrecy’ of the family courts were misguided. It is self-evidently important that the family courts should respect the confidentiality of children and young people.