Annual Report 2006-2007 - Cafcass

case study
North East Children’s Conciliation Scheme
“The reward is in seeing parents and grandparents having experienced court as a positive thing, not as a stressful
thing. Seeing both parties feeling that they’ve achieved something is really good.”
Vanessa Bell, Family Court Adviser, North East
Bob 3 was referred to this scheme after he lost contact with his daughters, following the breakdown of his
marriage. He says this about it:
“How has the scheme helped It’s quite a simple answer because from six months ago I was never seeing the kids;
I hadn’t seen them for years and years. Now I see them every other week – they come up here, they stay overnight,
we go out on days out. The scheme has had a big impact on my life.”
3 Names of service users have been changed throughout this Annual Report
case study
Family Group Conferencing (London)
“Family group conferences are for the children – it’s their conference. The focus is on the child.”
Zafer Yilkan, Service Manager
Mike hadn’t seen his two children since April 2006. He was referred to Family Group Conferencing in August and
eventually came to an agreement with his ex-wife whereby he could see his daughter. His son was reluctant but
was persuaded to take part in the contact visits. Mike now sees them both regularly and says:
“The importance of having the children there was knowing that I cared for them. In court you don’t get to see them
– and they were able to see that I wanted to see them. That was a great advantage. Cafcass gets right to the heart
of the matter and tries to root it out and get you to agree very, very quickly.”
Section 1: Management Commentary | 15