Minor details

Next month, CAFCASS celebrates its first birthday - but it has been a troubled year.

And as Grania Langdon-Down reports, there is mounting concern among lawyers that guardians ad litem are not getting the recognition they deserve for their vital work

For family lawyers, CAFCASS - the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service - which is heading for its first birthday on 1 April, was a 'baby born prematurely'.The excitement over the conception of a unified service offering vital support to vulnerable children and families turned to dismay as the rush to give it life ignored the potential risks to its future health.But while the service came 'dangerously close to paralysis' during its early months, according to one of the local managers who voted with his feet and resigned, and despite continuing problems, the prognosis is - for the first time - starting to look more optimistic.CAFCASS brings children's guardians, the children's branch of the Official Solicitor's Department, and children and family reporters, who represent children and provide reports on troubled families, under one body responsible to and funded by the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD).Despite the troubled start, its guardians and reporting officers have produced more than 11,500 public law reports and more than 32,000 private law reports.Its early months were overshadowed by a dispute with the self-employed guardians, who successfully brought a judicial review against CAFCASS's single offer of a contract of employment.

The guardians' professional body, the National Association of Guardians Ad Litem and Reporting Officers (NAGALRO), says more than 100 left the service, while 20 out of 54 local managers resigned.Morale at CAFCASS plummeted; waiting lists grew.

Chief executive Diane Shepherd was suspended in November and the CAFCASS board has commenced disciplinary proceedings in respect of aspects of her performance as chief executive and accounting officer, which she is contesting.But over the past few months, the first signs of a more positive approach have been tentatively noted by some practitioners, who feared the disarray in some areas, compounded by the turmoil to be found in many social services departments, could let children slip through the net.The 688 guardians have now been offered a choice of employed and self-employed contracts, and early indications suggest that many will sign by the 28 March deadline (see [2002] Gazette, 28 February, 5).

From April, CAFCASS will not allocate new cases to self-employed guardians who have not signed the new contracts.CAFCASS itself is under close scrutiny.

LCD minister Rosie Winterton meets weekly with chairman Anthony Hewson, while the Magistrates' Courts Service Inspectorate will publish its first overview of the service later this month.Jane Craig, chairwoman of the Solicitors Family Law Association and a partner with London firm Manches, says: 'I think those in charge have finally woken up to the fact that the situation is serious.

The theory of a unified service is marvellous but CAFCASS was a baby born prematurely, without enough care taken in introducing the new service and without the resources in place.'The problem with the guardians has been disastrous.

There is a lot of sympathy for them among lawyers who work in public law cases.

They are such a valuable resource for children, it is absolutely crucial we don't lose their expertise.'The importance of CAFCASS was underlined recently in the Making Contact Work report by the Children Act sub-committee of the Lord Chancellor's advisory board on family law.

Its recommendations for improving contact hinge on a 'properly functioning, expanded' CAFCASS, and it argues that the potential benefits in fewer contested court proceedings make a 'compelling case' for a significant rise in its resources.Mr Justice Wall, who chairs the sub-committee, says CAFCASS is unable to meet existing demands in some areas without significant delays.

'The people on the ground are doing their best but we are very critical of the way the service was introduced.

Ideally, with a properly running system, a judge should be able to say to CAFCASS: "Can you allocate an officer urgently and have a report within two weeks?" What is happening now is that you have to wait ten to 12 weeks.

I retain my aspirations for it because I think a unified system is a sound concept but it needs to be properly structured and financed.'Rosemary Carter, a partner at London firm Barnett Sampson and immediate past president of the SFLA, agrees: 'The government hugely underestimated the time it would take to draw the various threads together.

'In some areas, solicitors have been asked to act as guardians until one could be allocated, which could be positively dangerous because it is a different role and requires different strengths.

I have been doing children work for over 20 years but I couldn't just step into a guardian's shoes.'Jonathan Tross, a civil servant in the Cabinet Office with experience of the early days of the Benefits Agency and the Child Support Agency, was parachuted in as acting chief executive in December to try to get CAFCASS back on course.He says: 'I think the sense of disappointment about its progress needs to be set against some pretty high expectations, which were possibly a bit unrealistic for the first year.

We need to stabilise the organisation and get some confidence back in it so we can move on.'Its first corporate plan, published earlier this month, lists specific commitments, including developing new national standards, identifying ways of monitoring children's experiences of CAFCASS intervention, and introducing a complaints and feedback policy.

New work will arise out of changes to adoption rules and the need to provide safe, child-friendly contact centres.Mr Tross says: 'We very much hope we will get a positive response to our offer to the guardians.

There has also been uncertainty over our budget for next year but the LCD has now promised it will match this year's budget of about 80 million.'NAGALRO is holding its AGM and spring conference - called Change for the Better - on 18 March.

While it will keep its acronym NAGALRO, it will decide whether to change its description to the professional association for family court advisers and independent social work practitioners and consultants.Susan Bindman, a self-employed guardian for 17 years, is chairwoman of NAGALRO.

She will be signing the self-employed contract and echoes Mr Tross's wish for a period of consolidation rather than conflict.She says: 'We believe the choice of contracts will be acceptable to many members.

There are still some real issues about some of the travel aspects, for instance, and we will need to monitor how the new contracts work in practice to ensure that financial constraints do not skew our child-focused aims.'Guardians are also concerned that under the work contracts, only employed guardians will be able to do private law work, potentially undermining CAFCASS's original aim of creating a fully integrated service.Ms Bindman says: 'Morale has been terrible and there is still a lot of repair work to be done, but we must make a new beginning and move forward.'Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of NAPO, the union for family court and probation staff, says its 700 members employed by CAFCASS had been in despair.'The introduction was a shambles, with hardly anything settled such as trade union negotiating rights or pensions, and it continued to be a shambles,' he says.

'But staff are more hopeful than ever before that things will get sorted out.'Katherine Gieve, a partner at London firm Bindman & Partners and chairwoman of the SFLA children committee, is less sanguine.

'There are no signs on the ground that it is turning the corner yet, despite assurances being made by CAFCASS and the LCD.

'We remain really concerned that the service isn't functioning properly and remain anxious whether there is sufficient recognition of the expertise and independence which is needed to be a guardian.'Sally Dowding, a partner at Elwyn Jones & Co in Bangor, Wales, is a member of the Law Society's family law committee and children sub-committee.

She says: 'I am worried there is an underlying agenda about the tandem model of representation for children by both a guardian and a solicitor, despite assurances from Parliament that it recognises its value.' Solicitors are also concerned at the variations in service.

Punam Denley, of the Family Law Consortium in London, and the SFLA's children committee, points out: 'We have found in London and areas such as Plymouth and Bristol, that lawyers are reporting long waits for guardians to be allocated.

There is also concern about the inexperience of some guardians, and about training, which hasn't been adequate, despite promises by the LCD.'So, while nobody will be getting out the party hats just yet, Ms Carter offers CAFCASS a birthday wish: 'I am hopeful things will pick up - I have to be hopeful.

This is one initiative that cannot afford to fail.'

Grania Langdon-Down is a freelance journalist

l For more information on the Law Society's family law committee, write to Rachel Rogers at 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL or e-mail: rachel.rogers@lawsociety.org.uk