House of Commons - Home Affairs

Select Committee on Home Affairs Written Evidence

APPENDIX 41

Memorandum submitted by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. This submission focuses on domestic violence issues relating to children. As a safeguarding agency, Cafcass has a strong interest in responding effectively to domestic violence. In the majority of both public and private law cases domestic violence is an issue, and is a factor in over half of all serious case reviews. Domestic violence has a major impact on the well-being of children, and on the ability of the non-violent adult to parent successfully. Cafcass has worked hard to promote the inclusion of children on the domestic violence policy agenda, both nationally and locally.

2. Cafcass recognises the various manifestations of domestic violence in its training, guidance and practice, including forced marriage.

3. Cafcass has made major developments in the way we respond to domestic violence, including:

— introducing a comprehensive and mandatory training programme;

— implementing guidance for practitioners in the form of a toolkit;

— introducing a three-fold approach to risk assessment;

— establishing procedures for sharing information with children's social care, without creating a referral overload and enabling Cafcass to work with the family; and

— establishing protocols with Police for more effective screening and risk identification.

4. Despite this progress, there is more that can be done to safeguard children who are affected by domestic violence. This change needs to come from the "whole system" given the complexities and number of agencies that are involved. We recommend the following:

— increased provision of contact centres;

— resolution of data protection issues and information sharing issues in relation to MARACs and court proceedings;

— further measures for effective risk assessment, including legislative measures around screening for risk in private law cases;

— a more joined up, and wider, approach to policy children's issue and domestic violence;

— targeted information to change attitudes towards forced marriage; and

— information from finding of fact hearings should be available to inform interagency risk assessments.

INTRODUCTION TO CAFCASS

5. Cafcass was set up in 2001 as a non-departmental public body. We work with children in family court proceedings to safeguard and promote their welfare. This can be in "public law" proceedings (mostly care applications by local authorities), adoption cases or "private law" cases where there is family breakdown and parents cannot agree about residence or contact. We work within England and a separate organisation—CAFCASS CYMRU—works in Wales.

6. In 2006-07, we worked with 80,536 children: 12,104 public law and adoption, and 68,432 in private law.

7. Cafcass is under a statutory duty to safeguard the children with whom we work.[256] "Safeguarding" is a concept that has evolved over time, and is wider than child protection. It means that as far as we can Cafcass, in every aspect of our work, will safeguard against harm, safeguard a child's right to maintain important attachments, safeguard a child's right to fully participate in our work with them, and safeguard a stable and secure life for the children and young people we work with.

8. Domestic violence is an important feature of our work in public and private law. It has a major impact on the well-being of children, and on the ability of the non-violent adult to parent successfully. Cafcass is clearly concerned for the well-being of vulnerable adults as well as children—not least because the two are inextricably linked. We recognise that other submissions will focus on adult issues and so this submission focuses on domestic violence issues as they relate to children.

PREVALENCE IN FAMILY PROCEEDINGS

9. Research into the prevalence of domestic violence is confirmed by Cafcass practice experience, that in the majority of both public and private law cases domestic violence is an issue. Exact figures are hard to determine, since for domestic violence to be recognised as a fact within court proceedings, the court has to make a finding of fact. This can take a lengthy hearing and the courts are reluctant to commit this time unless the issue is central for progress of the case. In private law, this means that domestic violence can remain an unsubstantiated allegation and in public law it is frequently a background concern, overlaid by the crisis issues which have led to the care proceedings.

10. The Women's Aid "Twenty-Nine Child Homicides" report describes the cases of 29 children from 13 families who were murdered by their fathers during contact.[257] This report has been influential in beginning to change practice within the family court system.

11. Cafcass' position as a national agency enables us to learn from serious case reviews[258] (SCR) and domestic homicide reviews from across the country. In over half of SCRs, domestic violence is a factor. We also have a number of cases each year where there is a domestic homicide, and some where both parent and child are killed by the abusive partner.

IMPACT ON CHILDREN

12. Being exposed to domestic violence has both short and long term cognitive, behavioural and emotional effects. Research tells us that the majority of children who live in families where domestic violence is an issue, witness the violence that is occurring, and in about half of all domestic violence situations they are also being directly physically abused themselves. Each child will respond differently to the trauma; some may be resilient and not exhibit any negative effects.

13. Section 120 of the Children and Adoption Act 2002 extended the definition of harm within the 1989 Children Act to include harm suffered from seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another, such as harm caused by witnessing domestic violence. The impact of this change has been to mainstream concerns about domestic violence within the safeguarding arena, whereas previously it was often marginalised.

14. Research also shows that the risk of harm to children from domestic violence is not discrete—there is a significant cross-over of concerns. Children are likely to be at risk of actual physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse from perpetrators of domestic violence. Domestic violence is often a significant and consistent feature, no matter what other form of abuse a child is deemed to have suffered.[259]

15. Because of the serious impact of domestic violence on children, and because of the numbers of children in this position, Cafcass has worked hard to promote the inclusion of children on the domestic violence policy agenda, both nationally (in terms of joined-up approach between the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and the Department for Children, Schools and Families) and locally in terms of a closer working partnerships between Domestic violence fora and Local Safeguarding Children's Boards. This remains a challenge.

WIDER ISSUES RELATING TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

16. Research demonstrates that the majority of serious domestic violence is committed by men against women. This is borne out by Cafcass' practice experience. Other forms of domestic violence, whilst less common, are equally serious. A key part of our training, guidance and practice is to ensure that the focus on "normal" circumstances does not prevent the identification of, and appropriate responses to, less usual situations. Examples from recent practice include:

— A male member of Cafcass staff who disclosed during domestic violence training that he had grown up with violence perpetrated by his mother against father—he spoke vividly of the harm caused by this "minority" experience.

— Violence within a single sex relationship.

— Violence perpetrated by teenage son against siblings and mother (a single parent following domestic violence in her marriage).

— Violence relating to "forced marriages". A forced marriage is itself a form of violence. Cafcass has some involvement through the High Court in cases where vulnerable young women who are at risk of a forced marriage, apply to the court for assistance. More usually, our involvement is through private law proceedings about the children when a marriage has broken down. Not infrequently then, the original violence of the forced marriage is overlaid by other forms of domestic violence perpetrated either by the husband, extended family or both.

CAFCASS AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

17. The impetus for Cafcass to re-think the way we approach domestic violence came largely from the October 2005 inspection[260] by HMICA. The review found that in spite of some elements of good practice, Cafcass faced a number of challenges in our work with families where domestic violence is a factor and a holistic response was required. In particular, the report highlighted for both Cafcass and the family courts, that working under the presumption that contact is always best for children in private law cases is clearly not appropriate in cases where domestic violence is an issue. The review identified a need for Cafcass to provide staff with more structure around assessing risk and with training for work with domestic violence. In 2006 Cafcass successfully completed the action plan arising from the HMICA report: we were complimented by the inspectors on the achievements we have made. In a recent inspection the progress made in relation to all safeguarding issues, including domestic violence, was positively noted.[261] The key developments are as follows:

18. Cafcass has implemented a domestic violence training programme for all our operational staff, covering theory; communicating with children; and legal issues. This is the first comprehensive and mandatory training programme since the start of Cafcass.

19. We have produced our Domestic Violence Toolkit[262], which provides guidance for practitioners. This has been very well-received—we have requests for its use from as far afield as Australia.

20. We have implemented our Safeguarding Framework[263], which brings together all safeguarding policies including domestic violence and risk assessment. The Framework contains a 3-fold approach to risk assessment: screening in all cases; risk identification in all cases; and safety assessment—a more detailed process—for those families where risk is identified. This complies with the new provision from the Children and Adoption Act 2006, which requires Cafcass to undertake risk assessments where necessary.

21. The "Section 120" provision[264] brought many of our "private law" children into the safeguarding arena. Cafcass agreed a protocol with the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS)[265] whereby we notify the local authority children's social care department of any cases where such harm is alleged to have occurred, but we do not make a child protection referral unless there is information to suggest that the harm still continues or is likely in the future. This allows Cafcass to continue working with the family and avoids overloading children's social care with referrals, but ensures that they have the information in case this fits with information they hold from elsewhere, which may suggest the presence of present or future risk.

22. We have worked with the Family Justice Council in responding to the issues raised by the Women's Aid "29 Homicides" report (see above). In particular, the recent FJC report[266] states: "A cultural change is required, with a move away from "contact is always the appropriate way forward" to "contact that is safe and positive for the child is always the appropriate way forward". This is a major shift, particularly given that the family justice system is based on a minimal intervention approach ie if families can work it out for themselves than that is best.

23. We worked with others to produce guidance to local commissioners of children's services about domestic violence.[267] This guidance has been warmly received but less effectively implemented. In most local authorities, there continues to be inadequate provision of support services.

24. Along with CAFCASS CYMRU, we have just agreed a protocol with the Association of Chief Police officers (ACPO) to ensure the provision of comprehensive and timely screening information from the police in private law cases where risk factors are identified.[268]

FURTHER CHANGES NEEDED

25. As stated above, Cafcass believes we have made positive changes in our practice and approach. There is of course more to do.

"Whole system change"

26. No single agency can deliver what is needed—there needs to be a consistent approach across the family justice system and also the wider world of services for children.

27. We have attached as an appendix, an account of a recent case which demonstrates this need especially:

— the court initially failed to grasp the risks to the children or their mother from this violent father;

— the local authority children's social care assessed the referral on the basis of child protection, but Cafcass was unable to secure any support services for the children or mother;

— there was no suitable contact centre provision available without payment;

— pressures on the probation service meant a nine month delay in the provision of a perpetrator programme and assessment; and

— lack of information exchange between the criminal justice system and the family justice system (which dealt with the case in ignorance of the criminal matter).

Contact Centres

28. Traditionally most contact centres have been staffed by volunteers on a "supported contact" basis: this model cannot be applied to supervised contact for families where there are issues of risk. There is some Government funding for supervised contact but it is limited.[269] In addition, there is a fragmentation of provision as in public law, contact services are provided by children's social care. There needs to be a more joined-up approach, enabling economies of scale alongside increased provision across the country.

Information Sharing

29. Close inter-agency working is needed to ensure the safety of children and the non-violent parent in cases of domestic violence. A large part of this involves information sharing. Cafcass shares with all agencies in this field, the difficulty of balancing the need for full sharing of information with the requirement to respect the privacy of individuals and comply with the Data Protection Act. In many situations, there is no consent from family members to share the information and this leaves individual practitioners having to balance competing pressures with varying results. This needs clarifying by a central review of the differing pieces of legislation.

30. As an agency, Cafcass has made progress in our ability to share and receive information. We now have the police (ACPO) protocol referred to earlier, and are a national partner for the new ContactPoint project which will enable professionals to identify other professionals involved with any child.

31. For domestic violence issues, information sharing is now facilitated helpfully through multi agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs). The information sharing dilemmas, outlined above, are helped but not fully resolved by the MARAC process. Cafcass is beginning to develop links with MARACs at local levels, but there is a particular lack of clarity about what can be shared with us and by us, given that we are bound by the confidentiality rules of the family court proceedings. It is hoped that the proposed changes arising from the family courts transparency review will ease this difficulty. We would also recommend that findings of fact made in family proceedings should also be recorded in a way that is accessible on an interagency basis.

Risk assessment

32. The Cafcass model is outlined in appendix 2.

33. A particular limitation currently is that, at the outset of a private law case, Cafcass can only ask the police whether they have any relevant information in those cases where some indication of risk is already apparent. This approach is based on advice about the impact of Human Rights legislation on our practice.

34. This limits the effectiveness of our screening, since some risk factors are not apparent within the family court documentation or even known to other family members—for example, in cases where a man has been convicted of offences against a previous partner or child, but these risks are not known to the partner currently involved in the court case. In the past, some Cafcass teams had arrangements with their local police service, which enabled them to undertake routine, comprehensive screening. Experience showed that was a much more robust way of ensuring that necessary information is made available so that safe decisions could be made by the court.

35. Cafcass hopes that the government may be able to provide a requirement for us to undertake screening for all private law applications at some stage in the future, to resolve this difficulty.

Parenting Policy Programmes

36. In 2006 the Government produced guidance for local authorities about parenting programmes.[270] This document makes no reference to parental separation or family breakdown, and only one brief reference to domestic violence. This exemplifies the need to achieve a more joined up approach to policy between the Home Office—who lead on domestic violence but may need to be reminded about the impact on children—and the DCFS—who lead on children's issues but who may need to be reminded about the impact of domestic violence.

Universal services

37. Targeted services for the victims of domestic violence are needed, but these cannot be the whole story. The prevalence is such that a much wider approach is needed. The analogy with health is useful in that we need public health education programmes as well as treatment facilities. Attached as appendix 3 is a diagram from the "Vision" document[271] (see earlier discussion) which provides a summary of what is needed in terms of universal as well as targeted services.

Forced Marriage and Honour Killings

38. There needs to be a wider information campaign to reach the wide variety of communities where forced marriages occur and an attempt to limit the "criminalisation" of individual families which can serve to harden attitudes and set back general progress.

39. With relation to so-called "honour killings", deaths of young people under the age of 18 should be included as part of the serious case review procedure.[272] The killings of adults should trigger one of the new Domestic Violence Homicide Reviews.

256 Section 12 Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. Back

257 Saunders, H (2004) Twenty-Nine Child Homicides: Lessons still to be learnt on Domestic Violence and Child Protection" Women's Aid Federation of England. Back

258 Serious case reviews are undertaken by Local Safeguarding Children's Boards following either a child death where abuse or neglect has been a factor, or serious injury. The process is set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children DfES 2006. Back

259 See Hester, M, Pearson, M and Harwin, N (2006) Making an Impact. Back

260 Domestic Violence, Safety and Family Proceedings: Thematic review of the handling of domestic violence issues by Cafcass and the administration of family courts in HMCS. HMICA 2005 (Note: HMICA-Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Court Administration. Since April 2008 responsibility for inspection of Cafcass was transferred to OFSTED.) Back

261 Children's guardians and care proceedings HMICA September 2007 See www.cafcass.gov.uk Back

262 See www.cafcass.gov.uk Back

263 See www.cafcass.gov.uk Back

264 S120 of the Adoption & Children Act 2002, which extended the definition of harm for children to include witnessing harm. Back

265 Now split into the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS). Back

266 Report to the President of the Family Division on the approach to be adopted by the Court when asked to make a contact order by consent, where domestic violence has been an issue in the case. December 2006 www.familyjusticecouncil.org.uk Back

267 Vision for services for children and young people affected by domestic violence: guidance to local commissioners of children's services LGA, ADSS, Cafcass, Womens Aid et al 2006 see www.cafcass.gov.uk Back