Pre-Proceedings Pilot claims success in reducing child protection court cases

Joint working between Cafcass and local authorities can reduce the need for formal care proceedings, according to a report on the results of the Cafcass PLUS pilot scheme in Coventry and Warwickshire.

The proportion of child protection cases that were diverted away from public law proceedings in the pilot area averaged 40%, compared with the national average of 25% the report, published this week by Cafcass, said.

In the pilot period, which ran from January 2011 and until May 2013, Cafcass' Family Court Advisers (FCAs)carried out additional work in public law care cases before the application to court was made by the local authority. This included reviewing relevant reports, visiting and observing parents and children, attending the formal pre-proceedings meeting and engaging in case discussions with both social workers and families.

The effect of this additional effort, Cafcass said, was that by the time of the first hearing in court, more plans were in place and more options, such as potential kinship carers, identified. Improved diversion rates in the pilot scheme were largely achieved through better engagement with the children's family networks, resulting in a higher rate of placement with a child’s extended family.

The consent of parents needed to be obtained for this work, and while this was difficult in some cases, the majority of parents accepted that further work in the pre-proceedings stage was desirable.

As well as diverting more cases from court, those cases which did need to proceed to court applications did so with more coherent assessments and plans, Cafcass said, enabling the cases to be completed more quickly in court.

Anthony Douglas, Chief Executive of Cafcass, said: “The Cafcass PLUS pilot has broken new ground in terms of joint working between Cafcass, local authorities and parents at the earliest possible stage. We have built on this work with the development of the new Family Court Social Work Model between Cafcass and local authorities, which sets out a single model of social work in care proceedings.

"The reductions in delay delivered by the Cafcass PLUS pilot led to us establishing our policy of becoming as involved as we can be pre-proceedings, resources permitting. I think this could be a precursor of a wider early intervention service in public family law.”

A copy of the report can be downloaded from the following link: http://www.cafcass.gov.uk/media/167143/coventry_and_warwickshire_pre-proceedings_pilot_final_report_july_4_2013.pdf