CAFCASS castigated

CAFCASS is a near disaster, owing to inadequate funding, management problems and disputes with self-employed guardians. So what’s new? The novelty is that it has been said by the House of Commons Committee of the Lord Chancellor’s Department which has called for radical reforms. It observed that although CAFCASS is there to protect vulnerable children, it needs to dispel the impression that organisational priorities dominate its thinking and show that it is really putting children and young people first in all that it does. Its current delays are ‘wholly unacceptable’ and its current target of allocation to a children’s guardian within seven days in 80% of cases ought to be increased to allocation within 48 hours. Clearing the backlog of cases should be its priority while the management structure should be reviewed with its inexperienced board being replaced by more experienced members.