What is Cafcass and what do they do in family court?

The answer in 30 seconds

Cafcass stands for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service.

In England, Cafcass provides qualified social workers called Family Court Advisers who work with families when the family court asks them to become involved.

Their role is focused on the welfare of the child.

Cafcass may:

• carry out safeguarding checks;
• speak to you and the other parent;
• consider information from the police and local authority;
• speak to the child where appropriate;
• prepare reports for the court; and
• make recommendations about what it believes should happen next.

The court makes the final decision.

But do not make the mistake of thinking that means a Cafcass recommendation is only a suggestion that the court is likely to ignore.

Cafcass reports are professional welfare evidence prepared specifically to assist the court.

Their recommendations can carry significant weight.

In Wales, the equivalent organisation is Cafcass Cymru.

1. What is Cafcass?

Cafcass is a public body that works within the family justice system in England.

Its role is connected to the welfare of children involved in family court proceedings.

In private family law cases, Cafcass commonly becomes involved when parents ask the court to make decisions about things such as:

• where a child should live;
• who a child should spend time with;
• a particular decision concerning the child; or
• whether somebody should be prevented from taking a particular step concerning the child.

Cafcass only becomes involved when the family court asks it to.

The person dealing with your case will usually be called a Family Court Adviser, often shortened to FCA.

A Family Court Adviser is a qualified social worker working for, or contracted by, Cafcass.

They are not:

• your Solicitor;
• the other parent's Solicitor;
• a mediator;
• the judge; or
• your local authority social worker.

Their job is to look at the case from the child's perspective and provide information and professional advice to the court.

Are Cafcass the same as social services?

No.

Cafcass and local authority children's services are separate organisations.

A local authority social worker may become involved because the council has safeguarding or child-welfare responsibilities.

A Cafcass Family Court Adviser becomes involved because the family court has asked Cafcass to carry out work in the case.

Cafcass may contact the local authority and consider information it holds, but Cafcass is not social services.

Are Cafcass part of the court?

No.

Cafcass works within the family justice system and advises the court, but it is separate from the court itself.

The Family Court Adviser cannot make a Child Arrangements Order.

They cannot decide where your child lives.

They cannot decide how often you see your child.

Those decisions belong to the court.

But that does not mean Cafcass has little influence.

The advice Cafcass gives the court can become very important to what happens next.

2. What does Cafcass do?

The amount of Cafcass involvement varies from case to case.

Some parents may speak to Cafcass only once.

Others may deal with Cafcass at several stages of a longer case.

Before the first hearing

In many private children cases, Cafcass carries out safeguarding work before the first hearing.

This can include:

• police checks;
• local authority checks;
• reading the court application;
• speaking to each parent; and
• identifying any immediate safeguarding concerns.

Cafcass will normally provide the court with a Safeguarding Letter before the first hearing.

That letter may include information about:

• the current arrangements for the child;
• concerns raised by either parent;
• police or local authority information;
• Cafcass's initial analysis; and
• what Cafcass thinks should happen next.

Later in the case

Cafcass may become involved again later.

For example, the court may ask Cafcass to:

• provide updated safeguarding information;
• carry out further risk assessment;
• prepare a Section 7 welfare report;
• speak to the child;
• consider information from schools or other professionals; or
• advise the court about future child arrangements.

Not every case needs all of these things.

Section 7 reports

A Section 7 report is a more detailed welfare assessment.

The court may order one if it needs more information before deciding what arrangements would be in the child's best interests.

Depending on what the court has asked Cafcass to investigate, the Family Court Adviser may look at:

• the child's circumstances;
• the child's wishes and feelings;
• the arrangements currently in place;
• each parent's position;
• safeguarding concerns;
• information from other professionals; and
• proposals for future arrangements.

The report will usually contain Cafcass's analysis and recommendations.

Those recommendations can become an important part of the evidence the court considers when deciding what order to make.

3. Do the courts listen to Cafcass?

Yes.

And this is something you should take seriously.

The court makes the final decision, but Cafcass recommendations can carry a great deal of weight.

It would be misleading to think:

Cafcass only makes a recommendation, so the judge may simply ignore it.

The court can disagree with Cafcass.

But you should not assume that this happens regularly.

How often does the court follow Cafcass?

You may see different statistics quoted online about how often judges follow Cafcass recommendations.

Be careful with them.

There is no recent national statistic that tells us exactly how often family courts follow or reject Cafcass recommendations today.

However, Cafcass published research in 2012 looking at 170 randomly selected private family law residence and contact cases.

Cafcass later reported that:

• around 75% of its recommendations were fully accepted by the court; and
• around 16% were partially or temporarily accepted.

That means the court accepted the Cafcass recommendation in full, in part or on a temporary basis in the large majority of the cases studied.

The research is old.

Family court practice has changed since 2012.

The sample was also relatively small.

So you should not treat those percentages as a prediction of what will happen in your case today.

But the research does support an important practical point:

Cafcass recommendations are often highly influential.

A father should not go into court assuming that a recommendation he disagrees with will probably be overturned.

What does that mean for me?

Do not assume:

The judge will sort it out if Cafcass gets it wrong.

The court remains responsible for making the final decision.

The judge or magistrates must consider the evidence and the welfare of the child.

But if Cafcass recommends:

• no direct contact;
• supervised contact;
• a particular living arrangement;
• further assessment;
• restrictions on contact; or
• another significant next step,

you should treat that recommendation seriously.

If you want the court to take a different approach, you may need to explain clearly:

• exactly what part of the recommendation you disagree with;
• why you say the analysis is wrong or incomplete;
• what evidence supports your position; and
• what child-focused alternative you are asking the court to consider.

Simply saying:

I disagree with Cafcass.

is unlikely to be enough.

A recommendation is not a court order

There is still an important legal distinction.

Cafcass cannot make the final order.

The judge or magistrates do that.

The court can depart from a Cafcass recommendation.

But the practical reality is that Cafcass reports are professional welfare evidence prepared specifically for the court.

That means you should not treat a negative recommendation as something that will probably be corrected automatically at the next hearing.

A more realistic way to remember the position is:

Cafcass advises. The court decides. But Cafcass advice can be highly influential.

Factual mistakes and disagreements are different

There is also an important difference between:

a factual mistake

and:

a professional opinion you disagree with.

For example:

The report says I have not seen my child since January, but contact records show I saw them in February, March and April.

That is a factual issue.

But:

Cafcass recommends supervised contact and I think unsupervised contact would be better.

is a disagreement with Cafcass's assessment or recommendation.

Those are different problems and may need to be dealt with differently.

4. Are there alternatives to Cafcass?

Sometimes.

Cafcass is not always the only organisation that can carry out a welfare assessment.

In some cases, the court may allow an Independent Social Worker, usually shortened to ISW, to carry out an assessment instead.

An Independent Social Worker may:

• speak to both parents;
• speak to the child where appropriate;
• consider risk;
• review important documents;
• speak to relevant professionals; and
• make recommendations to the court.

But there is an important point:

You cannot simply appoint an Independent Social Worker yourself and assume the court will use their report.

You need the court's permission.

The court will decide whether an Independent Social Worker is necessary and appropriate.

It may also decide:

• who the Independent Social Worker will be;
• what questions they should answer;
• when the report must be completed; and
• how the cost should be paid.

The court may refuse the request and decide that Cafcass should carry out the work instead.

So an Independent Social Worker is a possible alternative in some cases, not an automatic replacement for Cafcass.

5. Are Cafcass any good?

This is a difficult question because people's experiences vary considerably.

Cafcass carries out an important professional role in the family court system.

Family Court Advisers often deal with difficult cases involving allegations, safeguarding concerns and parents who strongly disagree about what should happen.

But there is also substantial public criticism of Cafcass.

Public reviews

As of 29 August 2026, the Cafcass page on Trustpilot showed:

• a rating of 1.1 out of 5;
• 1,514 reviews; and
• 97% one-star reviews.

People leaving reviews repeatedly raised concerns about issues such as:

• not feeling listened to;
• inaccurate reports;
• information being overlooked;
• assessments feeling one-sided;
• poor communication; and
• perceived bias.

Public reviews do not prove what happened in every case.

People who have had a bad experience may also be more likely to leave a public review than somebody who had no problem.

But the volume and consistency of the concerns should not simply be ignored.

They show that many people who have dealt with Cafcass have been deeply unhappy with their experience.

A survey of people with experience of Cafcass

Public reviews are not the only source of criticism.

A 2024 survey included 511 people with lived experience of Cafcass in England.

Those respondents included:

• 426 women;
• 80 men; and
• 5 people who preferred not to state their gender.

The concerns were therefore not coming only from fathers.

The survey reported high levels of dissatisfaction.

Among its findings:

82% of respondents believed Cafcass had shown bias.

For several questions concerning fairness, openness, accuracy and professional objectivity, fewer than 10% of respondents gave a neutral or positive response.

The survey does not prove that every Cafcass officer is biased.

It does not prove that every Cafcass assessment is poor.

It tells us what the people who took part reported about their own experience.

But those findings are still worth knowing about.

What should you do with that information?

Do not go into the process assuming:

Cafcass is against me.

That will not help you.

But do not go to the opposite extreme and assume:

They are professionals, so everything they write must be right.

Cafcass officers are professionals.

Professionals can still:

• make factual mistakes;
• misunderstand something;
• miss relevant information;
• give too much weight to one piece of evidence;
• give too little weight to another; or
• reach a conclusion you believe is not supported by the evidence.

Read anything Cafcass writes carefully.

Check:

• names;
• dates;
• the contact history;
• what Cafcass says you told them;
• what allegations have been made;
• what the court has actually found;
• what evidence Cafcass relied on; and
• how Cafcass reached its recommendation.

If something is factually wrong, raise it calmly and clearly.

If you disagree with Cafcass's assessment, understand exactly what you disagree with and why.

The important thing is to stay focused on:

the facts

and:

your child's needs.

6. What will Cafcass ask me?

There is no single script that every Family Court Adviser follows.

The questions will depend on your case.

But before the first hearing, you should expect Cafcass to ask about several main areas.

Your child and the current arrangements

You may be asked:

• Where does your child live?
• When do you currently see your child?
• When did you last see them?
• What arrangements were in place before the court application?
• When did the arrangements change?
• Are there any important health, school or additional needs?

If contact has stopped, expect Cafcass to ask:

• when it stopped; and
• why it stopped.

Why the case has come to court

Cafcass may ask:

• Why was the application made?
• What is the main disagreement?
• What arrangements were happening before the dispute?
• What changed?

You do not need to give Cafcass the entire history of your relationship.

Try to focus on the issues that are relevant to your child and the court application.

Safeguarding concerns

This is an important part of Cafcass's work.

You may be asked about:

• domestic abuse;
• violence or threats;
• controlling behaviour;
• drug or alcohol concerns;
• police involvement;
• social services involvement;
• previous court orders; and
• anything you believe currently puts your child at risk.

If allegations have been made against you, Cafcass may ask about them.

If you have concerns about the other parent, Cafcass may ask you to explain those too.

What you want to happen

Cafcass may also ask:

• What are you asking the court to do?
• What arrangements do you think should happen?
• What contact do you believe would work?
• Is there anything you and the other parent can agree?
• Why do you believe your proposal is good for your child?

Try to be practical.

For example:

I would like alternate weekends from Friday after school until Sunday evening.

is clearer than:

I just want equal rights.

The focus is on arrangements for the child.

7. How should I prepare for Cafcass?

You do not need to prepare a perfect speech.

But it is worth preparing.

Know why Cafcass is contacting you

Find out whether this is:

• the first safeguarding call;
• an update;
• part of a Section 7 assessment; or
• another piece of work ordered by the court.

The purpose of the conversation matters.

A short safeguarding call before the first hearing is not the same as a detailed Section 7 assessment.

Read the important documents

Look again at the documents relevant to the conversation.

These might include:

• the C100;
• any C1A;
• the latest court order;
• an earlier Safeguarding Letter; or
• another Cafcass report.

You do not need to memorise them.

You need to know what they say.

Write down your main points

Use short bullet points.

Think about:

• what is happening for your child now;
• what the main issue is;
• what concerns Cafcass needs to understand;
• what arrangement you are proposing; and
• why you believe that arrangement would meet your child's needs.

Do not try to compress the entire history of the relationship into one conversation.

Focus on what Cafcass needs to understand at this stage.

Keep it child-focused

You may need to discuss difficult behaviour or allegations involving the other parent.

That is sometimes unavoidable.

But try to explain why the issue matters to the child rather than simply criticising the other parent.

For example, instead of saying:

The other parent is impossible and always changes everything.

explain the practical problem:

Handover arrangements have changed repeatedly at short notice. I am concerned about the uncertainty this creates for my child. I would like a clear arrangement that both parents can follow.

Keep an accurate record

Make a note of:

• when the conversation happened;
• who you spoke to;
• why Cafcass was contacting you;
• the important points discussed;
• anything you agreed to send; and
• anything Cafcass said it would do next.

If something important needs correcting afterwards, deal with it calmly and in writing.

What should I remember?

Cafcass can become extremely important in a family court case.

Do not treat the process casually.

Prepare before important conversations.

Read Cafcass reports carefully.

Check important facts.

Understand exactly what Cafcass is recommending.

And remember that there is a difference between:

• an allegation;
• an admission;
• a court finding;
• a factual mistake in a report;
• Cafcass's professional assessment; and
• Cafcass's recommendation.

Those things are not interchangeable.

The court makes the final decision.

But that should not give you false reassurance.

If Cafcass makes a recommendation that could significantly affect your relationship with your child:

take it seriously.

Understand why it has been made.

Check the facts.

Prepare properly if you disagree.