cafcass.gov.uk

This organisation is shockingly bad!

I feel like my review will mirror a lot of others. That in itself should tell you everything you need to know.This organisation is shockingly bad and that is no exaggeration. The fact that so many people are stating similar experiences, gives the claims great credibility in my eyes.This organisation isn’t fit for purpose. They don’t act in the best interests of the children at all. That is just a buzzword they like to band around and regurgitate to try and justify their nonsense. Instead they help to cause and enable trauma in children’s lives; forever tainting their childhood.When they speak to children they ask them leading questions and don’t delve into the things they say or question why they say the things they do. They don’t use any degree of common sense either. They’re quite happy to ignore one parent breaking the law to gain residency (even though they can see and admit that gives them an “unfair advantage” in court proceedings).The officer I had dealings with was very cold and had a total lack of empathy. She snook around to my address on one occasion, unannounced when I wasn’t home anyway. This was not directed by the court, nor was it necessary. She acted in such a biased way, supporting the resident parent, despite seeing that his behaviours were “intimidating” and “challenging” (both her words). It didn’t matter how problematic he was in the end as she was always going to act in his favour for the sheer fact he was seen as the resident parent. Family courts do not like movement or change for children so the parent who is seen as the resident parent (the one the children are living with at the time of proceedings, will always hold the balance of power). They seem to ignore alienation as if it isn’t an important factor and fail to see the manipulation that these problematic parents use on their own children. I find them to be very dismissive of these types of concerns, due partly to their lack of experience of complex cases and lack of training. The aforementioned CAFCASS Officer, suggested “safeguards” to be implemented within the final court order in the event that contact breaks down. Says it all if safeguards are needed in the first place because the concern is already there that the “resident parent” will cause issues with contact. That resident parent also has a history of aggression and abuse and is on Claire’s Law (not worrying at all it seems). However, these so called “safeguards” were never explored to see if they were possible or realistic. As a result it is no surprise that the resident parent in this case breached the court order time and time again. This was never looked at, no sanctions were given as family courts do not care and have no desire to “punish parents”. Once a CAFCASS Officer has washed their hands of a case, they don’t care either as they’ve already moved onto the next family. Probably one of the most shocking and sad facts in all of this is that CAFCASS are thieves. This is because they steal time; time a child has with a loving parent and deny them of a proper relationship with them by choosing the easy option and making woeful recommendations. I conclude with a “well done CAFCASS, Chalk this one up as another loss, another disaster and another failing. I truly hope you are all found out and exposed for the abuse enablers you all are. I for one, would not be proud to work for such an organisation. Might want to keep that quiet as anyone who has any knowledge or experience of the organisation will surely have a raised eyebrow or awkward expression when told. God forbid your own children find out that you help to destroy families for a living!

Date of experience: Jan 05, 2026