New divorce and separation-related private law applications received by CAFCASS dropped markedly this May
Impact of COVID-19 seen to be having a marked impact on public and private law applications.
CAFCASS stands for: ‘Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service”. CAFCASS are the body responsible for representing children in the family court in England. The work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children going through the family justice system. You may have heard of Family Court Advisers, who are the professionals involved in this work.
CAFCASS may be involved in divorce and separation proceedings (also known as ‘private law’) when parents or carers can’t agree on arrangements for their children. CAFCASS received a total of 3,407 new private law cases (involving 5,198 children) in May 2020, which was 11.6 per cent (or 448 cases) down compared to the previous year.
CAFCASS also keep statistics on the number of new care proceedings, sometimes called ‘public law’, where social services have serious concerns about the safety or welfare of a child. CAFCASS received 2,797 new public law cases in May 2020 featuring 4,549 children. This represented a decrease of 10.4% (326 public law cases) and a decrease of 11.7% (603 children), when compared to cases received in May 2019.