Court Reporters - CAFCASS SELLOUT

Here's CAFCASS's latest 'thinking'. Their booklet "Contact - principles practice guidance and procedures" - 16 August 004

68 pages of rubbish which - guess what - don't give any actual guidance. I've scanned in a few pages for the time being, I'll give a proper go over the weekend

It's just a list of endless caveats - of why contact should be withheld. Not how much contact should be granted. Same old stuff - but worse.

All based arround the notions that -

- every case is different
- there are no norms
- its not possible to say what level of contact there should be
- almost all contact can be refused for almost any reason.

Nothing about Parenting Plans. Nothing about the 'good reason' priciple. Nothing about reasonable contact.

No change at all. So - the Green Paper "reforms" are a sham. In July The Green Paper saidPara 4 of the 'Execcutive Summary':

"We will produce practical tools - Parenting Plans - giving guidance about parenting arrangements that are known to work for children, and their parents, in a range of circumstances. These will also illustrate how the courts are likely to deal with disputes that may be put before them".

And - surprise surprise - in August CAFCASS goes and does the reverse. The CAFCASS message is clear,

"We will NOT produce practical tools - Parenting Plans - giving guidance about parenting arrangements that are known to work for children, and their parents, in a range of circumstances. These will also NOT illustrate how the courts are likely to deal with disputes that may be put before them".

Why? For the same old reason. According to CAFCASS, every case is different. Heres their Executive Summary :

"There is no simple formulaic approach to contact or the apportionment of time that will meet the needs of children"

and

"Each child has individual needs arising from a number of variables, personal and circumstantial, and will require an individual approach. " "Each child is unique." Paragraph 6.13, officers should "reject formulaic arrrangements as 'norms'. Contact arrangements must be made on the basis of levels of... interpersonal conflict" etc etc etct etc etc.

It's the end of the Government Green paper. End of the Family resoutions Project. And end of the Early Interventions project. Green paper paragraph 71 says the so-called reform project will be run by CAFCASS