CHILDREN AND FAMILY COURT ADVISORY SUPPORT SERVICE

That this House believes that the fundamental principles of the Children Act should inform the approach and practice of Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS); notes that these include the power of the court to make any order it believes necessary to ensure the child's welfare and to minimise delays in the time taken for a family court to make a final decision; reaffirms that the paramount consideration for CAFCASS should be the welfare of the child and that there should be active parliamentary oversight of the agency's important work; and recommends that the structures of CAFCASS be simplified and that additional funding should be spent on recruiting more practitioners to reduce backlogs and to allow existing workers to spend adequate time on each case.