We told the Public Accounts Committee: “Our evidence on improving family court services for children focuses on the role of Children’s and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS), which is supposed to look after the interests of children whose parents are going through family court proceedings in England. CAFCASS was last examined in 2010 when the Committee determined it was not fit for purpose. However, the Committee notes that in 2024 CAFCASS was rated outstanding by Ofsted. We challenge Ofsted’s findings – it has shown itself not to be fit for purpose as it has repeatedly failed to protect children taken by the state who suffered neglect, abuse and worse in privatised residential children’s homes.

We point the Committee to the thousands of people who have had direct experience with CAFCASS and do NOT rate them ‘outstanding’ – see for example Trustpilot where almost 1500 people have given it a one-star rating, and a March 2024 research paper documenting families’ experiences of CAFCASS.

Improving family court services for children cannot be separated from the urgent need to overhaul how the child welfare system and family courts treat mothers, who are almost always children’s primary carers and their main protectors. The sexism, racism, class and disability discrimination routinely faced by mothers invariably impact the well-being of children. We urge the Public Accounts Committee to urgently consider what measures are needed to reduce the numbers of children going through family courts every year, and to begin with prioritising support for mothers, especially single mother families, rather than continuing to pour money into monitoring and removing children. Please see our Recommendations (Point 9) which include changes in legislation needed to drastically reduce the numbers of children who come before family courts and improve the outcomes for those who do.”

See full document below: