CAFCASS S7 Reports - and what is the Child Welfare Checklist

When a child's parents or carers are separating/divorcing and they are unable to agree caring and spending family time arrangements for their child, the Judge will often ask CAFCASS (Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) to carry out a more detailed assessment of the disputed issues and prepare a S7 report to help inform the Judge's decision. CAFCASS will then appoint an FCA (Family Court Advisor) to complete the assessment and S7 report.

The Judge can also ask for a S7 report where an application has been made to vary an Order, for example a Prohibited Steps or Child Arrangement Order, or where an application has been made to discharge (end) an Order.

The Judge will let CAFCASS know when they expect the report to be filed at court. Your solicitor (if you have one) will also be informed.

In putting the report together, your FCA will complet safeguarding checks with the police and children's service on you both and will speak to your children to ascertain their wishes and feelings, and will interview you both separately. The focus of the report is on the impact of the separation and parental disagreements on the children and what is deemed to be safe and in the children's best interests. The FCA will share their thinking behind their recommendations and in most cases, you'll get to see the report before it's filed unless the court directs against this. Your FCA will also share their thinking and recommendations with your child (dependent on their age and understanding).

If there are any factual inaccuracies within the report, for example, incorrect names, places, dates of birth etc, you can ask your FCA to amend these.

If however, you are unhappy about what your FCA has written in their report and their opinion, it is important that you let your solicitor (if you have one) and the court know what you are unhappy about. This means the judge will be able to take your concerns into account when making their decision.  

The process that informs the S7 report

Your FCA will read any court documents and if you or the other parent or carer have been involved with the local authority Children's Services, they will read the information held on file. Your FCA will also carry out Safeguarding checks with the police and local authority. They will gather their information from many sources, including discussions with school or health services as appropriate.

Your FCA will speak with you and the other parent or carer to get an understanding of your respective circumstances, for example, employment, finances, and the home as well as any areas of dispute between you in respect of your child's care. They will also want to understand any areas of conflict between yourself and the other parent or carer in terms of communication or behaviour and whether there are any current safeguarding concerns.

They will also want to understand your perspectives and views on how you both think the plan for caring for your child should look and how you think this will meet your child's welfare needs. This includes, but is not exclusive of where each of you thinks your child should live, (whether full or part time) and the contact the other parent or carer should have on a day to day basis as well as during special holidays and birthdays etc.

(You might want to have a look at my blog post 'Parenting Plan', it could be useful as a bit of a kickstarter to stimulate what you might want to think about in terms of your own and the other parent's or carers respective care going forward).

Your FCA will also meet with your child so that they can understand what life is like for them and to get their wishes and feelings about what they would like to happen.

Where possible, they will meet with your child alone (if the child has sufficient maturity and understanding). This might be in your, or the other parent's home or at a neutral venue, for example in school. They may also speak to other people such as family members or teachers for example, to get a better understanding of your child.

Once your FCA has gathered all the relevant information, they will write the S7 report.

The law is clear that when making any decisions concerning a child, the welfare of the child is of paramount importance and when writing the S7 report your FCA will make a recommendation to the court on what they consider to be in your child's best interests. Your FCA will pay particular attention to what is known as the 'welfare checklist' when doing this.

The Child Welfare Checklist is less of an actual checklist where items are 'ticked off' than a set of overarching principles (outlined under seven headings) which guide the court.

There really is nothing mysterious about the Child Welfare Checklist, it's pretty much common sense and what is written under each heading will be what your FCA thinks is in your child's best interests after weighing up all the information. Under the headings below, I've given some ideas of what the FCA might be interested in.

The Child Welfare Checklist

(Although the law refers to 'his' in the headings below it applies to boys and girls equally).

The ascertainable wishes and feelings of the child concerned (considered in the light of his age and understanding)

Your child's wishes and feelings include those in respect of living arrangements and the time spent with each parent as well as their wishes and feelings on other aspects of their care.

Your child is unlikely to be directly asked where they want to live as it is a heavy weight of responsibility on your child if they are not sure, or are confused. However, your child might volunteer their views on this themselves to your FCA. If your child does express a view to live specifically with either one of you, your FCA is likely to want to understand why your child holds this view.. They will want to make sure that it isn't because they are simply trying to please one or other parent for example. They would also want to make sure your child understands what this might mean on a practical level, for example, living with mum and seeing dad at weekends or vice verse might mean that your child will see less of other relatives, and how your child might feel about this.

Your child's age will also come into play and although there is no specific age where more or less weight is given to a child's view when writing the report, the older a child is, the louder their voice will be in your FCA's deliberations and it is not unusual for the views of children aged eleven or over to be given more weight than younger children. Of course, this would also be affected by your child's level of understanding of the situation. Some younger children have very clear and reasoned views on how they want to spend time with each parent and weight to this will be given accordingly. Where the child is very young, little weight, if any, might be given to their views if they are not mature enough to understand the situation and form their own opinions. There is no 'one size fits all'. In the FCA report, children's views will be finely balanced against their other needs in the report

His physical, emotional and educational needs

Your child's living and care arrangements need to meet their physical needs, for example living in, or staying at a home which is structurally unsafe, is very overcrowded, or poses a health and safety risk would clearly not meet a child's needs. Equally, if a child has any specific health needs for instance, and there is no access to any necessary specialist equipment for them when in the care of either of the parents or carers, this is likely to adversely impact that parent or carers ability to meet this aspect of their physical care. These are two examples and are by no means exhaustive but I think you'll understand the principle of what I mean here.

Your FCA will also want to understand whether your child has any additional educational needs and if so, how, as parents or carers you would meet these when caring for your child respectively. This could be for example through your child attending specialist educational provision in the parent or carers locality. Again, this is an example but the principle is the same.

In order to meet a child's emotional needs, they need to feel safe, nurtured, loved and cared for. Your FCA will consider all the information available to them when forming their view of your child's best interests when writing their report. This may include observations of your child in your, or the other parent or carers care.

The likely effect on him of any change in his circumstances

Whilst considering your child's welfare as a whole, your FCA will want to understand any potential impact on your child of any changes to the current arrangements. For example, if living with either you or their other parent or carer meant that your child would need to spend a lot of time travelling to and from school daily, and they are currently in the middle of preparing for exams, this might not be in your child's best interests and could negatively impact their education. Your FCA will take account of any disruption on your child, and what would cause the least disruption, balanced against all the other factors they are looking at under the Child Welfare Checklist.

His age, sex, background and any characteristics of his which the court considers relevant

This includes cultural and religious background. For example if you or the other parent or carer practice a different religion to the other and celebrates different festivities, your FCA would want to explore with you and the other parent or carer, how your child could have these aspects of their identity met when in your respective care.

Any harm which he has suffered or is at risk of suffering

Before you see your FCA, they will have checked with local agencies such as the local authority, police, and probation services about whether there have been any safeguarding concerns relating to either parent or anyone connected to them that could have a direct impact on your child. They will also listen to any concerns you have in this regard. Your FCA will want to get a good understanding of any current potential risk of harm to your child, you or the other parent or carer,. They will discuss with you both how risk could be minimised. To give an example, where this is a risk of domestic abuse, they may talk with you both about a third party such as a relative or close friend supervising contact.

How capable each of his parents, and any other person in relation to whom the court considers the question to be relevant, is of meeting his needs

Your FCA will take all the information they have gathered from relevant agencies, yourselves and anyone else they feel appropriate such as other family members, and schools etc to help them come to a view on whether you and the other parent or carer is able to meet your child's needs and how.

It's important to remember that the report is focused on your child's needs, and not whether you or the other parent or carer is affluent or not, or well educated or not etc. Your FCA's focus will be on whether you and the other parent or carer is able to give a 'good enough' standard of care to your child, not how many presents they get on their birthday.

The range of powers available to the court

There are a range of Orders that can be made by the court and whilst the ideal is that parents or carers are able to come to an agreement that doesn't necessitate an Order, where an Order is necessary, the Judge will avoid being 'heavy handed' with the type of Orders they make unless they consider there sufficient cause to do so. Your FCA will make a recommendation on which Order they believe is most appropriate, although the court is at liberty to make any Orders it considers appropriate, even if the FCA report hasn't recommended them.

Well that's it for now, till the next time.....