Annual Report 2006-2007 - Cafcass

Transforming services and
modernising practice
Objective 1
Improving outcomes for children in line with Every Child
Matters by modernising practice
A number of important milestones were achieved during
the past year on our continuing journey to improve
outcomes for children by modernising our practice.
We have widely discussed the changes to our working
practices, both internally and with our partners in the
family justice system. New National Standards have now
been agreed, which set out what service users, partner
agencies and practitioners in the family justice system can
expect from Cafcass.
We have introduced a new Safeguarding Framework and
a revised domestic violence toolkit. We are continuing
to roll out a programme of training on cases involving
domestic violence for all our operational staff, including a
two-day course on communicating with children, provided
by Barnardo’s. We have made considerable progress in
embedding the President’s Private Law Programme and
have dispute resolution schemes in place in all courts in
the country. We will seek to embed further changes in
our practice through our next three-year Strategic
Business Plan.
Safeguarding Framework The new Safeguarding
Framework was implemented from 1st April 2007. It pulls
together all guidance and procedures relating to our duty
to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, has
been produced following extensive internal and external
consultation and has received endorsement from the
NSPCC. We will be evaluating its impact on practice in
January 2008.
“The NSPCC welcomes this
Framework. It is a clear and
comprehensive document, which
clarifies the responsibilities of Cafcass
and other agencies, and the role of
staff and children and families.”
NSPCC comment on the Cafcass
Safeguarding Framework
A new information-sharing protocol about to be agreed
with the police will also improve our ability to screen for
risk and carry out assessments where required.
Safeguarding
with other
agencies
Safeguarding
children &
families
Safeguarding
with staff
Cafcass as a safeguarding agency
Dispute resolution schemes Dispute resolution schemes
have been developed in all parts of the country and
have proved successful in terms of better outcomes for
families – around 60% of our interventions are achieving
full or partial agreements. We need to test the safety and
sustainability of these agreements and are looking at best
practice around the world to develop a single model. Many
of these schemes have directly involved children, and the
focus is to encourage parents to take responsibility for
negotiating their own arrangements and to improve their
communication concerning their children.
“Without this process I don’t think
we would ever have been able to
agree. After two years of bickering
and being unable to reach any kind of
compromise I feel that the process
gave me a forum to finally be heard.”
A service user who participated in the Extended Dispute
Resolution Scheme pilot in Norwich
National Standards The new Standards update the 2003
Cafcass Service Standards and Principles, and are being
phased in from 1st June 2007. The National Standards
seek to:
• promote early intervention and strengthen our approach
to safeguarding children
• ensure that we actively work to understand each child’s
wishes and feelings and take these views into account
• promote constructive agreements and work in a
problem-solving way wherever possible
• improve our internal business processes
• improve our case management, case planning and our
overall quality of service and customer care.
A small number of National Standards need further
development work prior to full implementation and we
have made clear which these are and the date when they
will be implemented.
Section 1: Management Commentary | 13