Written evidence submitted by Sue Justice,
self-employed children's guardian (CAF 39)
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE
ENQUIRY INTO
CAFCASS
I am a self-employed children's guardian working
in London. I have been a guardian for 12+ years formerly with
the Inner London and South London GALRO Panels. I was also Panel
Manager of the Buckinghamshire GALRO Panel for 2.5 years on a
part time basis.
I do feel that the original aims of bringing
together the Court Welfare Service, the Guardian Service and the
Official Solicitors have not been met. One appreciates that any
new organisation takes time to cohere and to build up a collective
ethos. However, many lessons could be learned from the setting
up of CAFCASS of how not to start up a new organisation. I do
not wish to highlight these here, but just to draw the Committee's
attention to how it feels as a practitioner.
1. The organisation appears to be managerially
and administratively top-heavy with poor communication between
practitioners and the hierarchy
Pre-CAFCASS most of the GALRO budgets went directly
on guardians ad litem. There were relatively small numbers of
managers and administrators. The managers knew the guardians personally
and were aware of their skills and experience. Now we have a huge
bureaucracy and the administrative costs have soared. Many of
us ask the question: what direct benefit to the children and families
we are here to serve has there been as a result of the huge sums
spent on consultancy?
2. Appointment of new guardians
There has been much concern amongst children's
guardians about the lowering of the level of experience required
to become a guardian. Three years post qualifying experience is
not enough Pre CAFCASS many guardians when they were appointed
had been practitioners and also managers for many years. It is
this experience which is valued by the courts and by families
and gives us credibility in their eyes.
3. Forms
I would say that the single biggest factor that
has almost led me to resigning from being a children's guardian
is the administrative demands that we now face. I fully accept
that we should be accountable for the time we spend on our cases.
However, every month I must spend at least seven hours filling
out forms in order to get paid. For every case I must fill out
a time sheet of how I have spent my time (in six minute units).
I must then fill out two more forms totalling up the amount of
hours on all the cases. I must submit an invoice for the agency
which CAFCASS has subcontracted to make payments. If I make a
mistake on the invoice, it is returned, even if there is a minor
difference of only a few pence. The administrative staff are not
allowed to alter the invoices. I think I speak for many guardians
in saying that they dread filling out the forms and some put off
the task as long as they can.
When a case closes we have to fill out a closure
form giving information which is said to be required for future
research purposes. We are asked to answer such questions as "what
are the human rights issues in the case?" Yes, there are
important issues about children's rights but I would seriously
question whether this is a valuable way of investigating whether
their rights are being addressed.
4. Training
One of the sad aspects of the setting up of
CAFCASS has been the loss of training for children's guardians.
The Inner London Panel had an ongoing programme which offered
relevant training to guardians during the year. Often guardians
themselves who had developed expertise in particular areas, such
as adoption or surrogacy, played a role in running the training.
For almost two years no training has been offered at all.
5. The development of policies and procedures
Yet again all the experience and expertise in
the development of policies and procedures pre-CAFCASS has been
lost. Guardians were involved in developing policies and procedures.
which no longer seems to happen. New policies which have been
developed since the establishment of CAFCASS have often seemed
very simplistic and generalised and therefore of limited value.
Sue Justice
13 March 2003
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