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<p>Cafcass undertakes safeguarding checks in every case where an application is made
to the court for a child arrangements order and reports relevant information to the
court in a safeguarding letter prior to the first hearing. As part of that process,
Cafcass will attempt to contact each party separately by telephone to elicit any concerns
about any risks of harm, either to the child or to an adult party. Cafcass conducts
checks of police records and makes enquiries of the local authority and will include
in its safeguarding letter any relevant convictions or cautions or prior local authority
involvement.</p><p> </p><p>Cafcass undertakes direct work with the child when directed
to do so by the court, in cases that continue after the first hearing. This includes
interviewing children in order to ascertain their wishes and feelings to produce a
section 7 welfare report into the child’s welfare needs. Any information disclosed
by the child about domestic or other abuse will be reported to the court. In 2018-19
Cafcass produced 19,236 s7 welfare reports.</p><p> </p><p>Cafcass does not record
data on the contents of individual safeguarding letters. However, a file analysis
of 216 private law cases undertaken in 2017 found that domestic abuse was alleged
in 62% of cases. Practice Direction 12J sets out the factors the court must consider
when domestic abuse is raised within the proceedings, including whether a fact-finding
hearing should be held. Data is not collected centrally on the number of fact finding
hearings and could only be obtained through an analysis of case files at disproportionate
cost. Whether or not domestic abuse is alleged or admitted by either party, Cafcass
has a statutory duty to report to the court at any stage in the proceedings any concerns
it has about the risk of harm to the child.</p><p> </p><p>Data is not available on
specific recommendations made by Cafcass to the court about child arrangements in
individual cases nor on the detailed content of any child arrangements order subsequently
made by the court. Such information could only be obtained from a case file analysis
at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Data is not collected on the use by the court
of its power under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 to prevent a named person
from applying from a specified kind of order without its permission. Such provision
may form part of a child arrangements or other order under made under the 1989 Act.</p><p>
</p><p>The Government is determined to improve the family justice response to vulnerable
people, including victims of domestic abuse. We are committed to giving the family
courts the power to stop unrepresented perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining
their victims in person in family proceedings, and we have included measures to prevent
this in the draft Domestic Abuse Bill.</p><p> </p><p>On 21 May we also announced the
establishment of a panel of experts to consider how the family courts protect children
and parents in cases of domestic abuse and other serious offences.</p>
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