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CAFCASS board asked to resign over service failures - 05 December 2003 | ||||||||
The Family Court Advisory Service (CAFCASS) was set up in April 2001 to look after the interests of children involved in divorce proceedings. By the time the new service started, Officers working for the service still "received no material training in their work". Normal family men were routinely "assessed as unfit to have significant contact with their children", and normal children continued to be routinely sentenced to years of a 'relationship-building program' to 'empower' mothers and mess around with children's access to their Dads. Nearly from the outset the CAFCASS management became locked in a damaging battle with staff and contract workers who were supposed to transfer to the new service. Within a year, the Chief Executive turned out to be "so unsuitable for the job" that she was suspended and sacked after a disciplinary inquiry. The first public acknowledgement of problems in the service came when the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, had to face the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee three weeks before Mrs Shepherd's suspension. "There are problems with the quality of management, and I do not want anything that I say to worsen a situation that exists." Despite
an assurance from the Lord Chancellor in October 2001 that he was very
much on the case, the July 2003 Home Affairs Select
Committee
report said: "The impression continued to grow of a service
in crisis". Childcare
professionals now warn that the demoralised
workforce and chronic staff shortages will
lead to more tragedies: "The
situation is in grave crisis ... We have waiting lists for the first
time all
around the country. ... The children are suffering." And the Commons
Select Committee adds that "delays
have reached wholly unacceptable levels". |
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CAFCASS
now faces dangerous confrontation and will have to give up its role
in divorce in order to save its role in adoption and care proceedings.
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| This page provides links to articles which express concern about the troubled Children Family Court Advisory Service (CAFCASS). | |
Newspaper
Articles: |
[Just
a small selection] |
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The Guardian July 26, 2002 |
Family court
service chief executive sacked after row - 'Children suffering' as support system faces crisis |
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Private Eye February 21, 2003 |
The mess at the Children and Family Services Court Agency | |||||
The Guardian July 24, 2003 |
'Support system fails children' | |||||
Portsmouth News July 29, 2003 |
CAFCASS Worker sentenced for perjury, perverting the course of Justice, lies and abusing position of trust. | |||||
Daily Telegraph September 11, 2003 |
The woman
who guards the guardians- Delays and discontent are undermining the professionals who look after the interests of the most vulnerable children in court cases. |
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| The
Observer September 21, 2003 |
Toni-Ann
death: court's role under fire - The death of Toni-Ann Byfield in a Brent bedsitter last weekend is the fourth such case since Cafcass was created in April 2001 |
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The
Times October 05, 2003 |
Something rotten about the state of family law - DISILLUSIONED fathers, frightened mothers, abused children, exhausted and frustrated solicitors, powerless or aloof judges, and now bomb threats to CAFCASS, the government-created body that sits at the heart of the family law system. Something has gone seriously wrong with family law... | |||||
10 October 2003 15:11 |
Adding to the CAFCASS
mess, Mr Hewson resigns Equal Parenting Council chairman pins blame for Mr Hewson's resignation on Napo obstruction of reforms. |
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| The Independent December 05, 2003 |
The Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, has asked the board to stand down so that Cafcass can make a fresh start. When interviewed Falconer added: "The organisation was really in chaos... Cafcass had not even begun the support service work it was supposed to be doing and had failed to put in place the proper training for its staff." | |||||
05
December 2003 |
... Lord
Falconer has told the board to stand down in a bid to give the heavily
criticised £70m agency, which deals
with 30,000 cases a year, a fresh start. It is understood that a new chairperson and an interim board has been appointed, but the government has refused to confirm this....more >> |
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| Press Association Thursday April 1, 2004 CAFCASS Whistleblower sacked by Falconer. |
The lord
chancellor, Lord Falconer, was today rebuked by a powerful Commons
committee over
the disciplining of a "whistleblower" who gave
evidence to MPs about the failings of CAFCASS. The case arose last year after Ms Weleminsky gave evidence to the constitutional affairs committee following an assurance that she was protected by parliamentary privilege. After the committee issued a report which was highly critical of the Cafcass management, Lord Falconer called on the entire Cafcass board to resign but Ms Weleminsky refused to go. |
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| CAFCASS: Background Information | ||||||
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| Targeting CAFCASS: Public Protests & Demonstrations | ||||||
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| CAFCASS ISSUES: | ||||||
OUTSOURCING
& DIVERSITY:- CAFCASS refuses to implement to monitor its contractors
for gender biased employment structures: |
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