Cafcass Child Impact Reports Training

Voice of the Child
Aug 28, 2017 · 3 min read

On 1st July 2017 Cafcass published their “Guidance on the use of professional time to benefit children” document as a PDF on their website here: Link to Cafcass document

In this document Cafcass laid out the basis for the new Child Impact Reports and their use as a potential replacement for the traditional Cafcass section 7 (s7) reports as follows:

“Each child impact analysis will include a structured professional assessment and recommendation by Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru and may also include some brief casework. The new template for this purpose is set out at the end of this guidance, though there may be further minor changes to the template to reflect operational differences between England and Wales. In other local areas, traditional s7 reports will be produced for the time being, pending the new proposed interventions being trialled and evaluated. Child impact reports are not a lighter version of a s7 report. They are a more intensive child focussed version”

Cafcass was subsequently asked:

“Please would you provide details of all training you provide your staff with that relates to Child Impact Analysis including dates on which that training was commissioned, dates it was deployed, completion rates in 2016 and in 2017, and a copy of any such training.”

Cafcass responded:
Cafcass does not run training for practitioners that specifically focuses on Child Impact Analysis as all training for our staff underpins our focus on being child-centred and looking at the issues from the perspective of the child.

As stated in the Guidance on the use of professional time to benefit children ‘new child impact reports which will be piloted for up to six months in Essex, York and North Yorkshire and North Wales.’ As part of the pilots training wil be given to staff on how to complete the child impact reports.

Please see the Cafcass Operating Framework (sections 4.19–4.24) which sets out what Cafcass practitioners should have regard to when working on a section 7 report. Cafcass practitioners also use a standard form of report
which provides template headings for each subsection

FOI: 25th July 2017

In Section 4 of the template Cafcass say:

“4. Structured Professional Assessment
• Bring together a succinct account of the child’s experiences and how their safety
and well- being can best be promoted • Relate the evidence base back to the
application”

Cafcass were asked:
“Please would you provide details on any new training that you may have provided post January 2017 on coached children and/or on parental influence over children’s expressed wishes and feelings. If you do have new training on this please provide dates on which that training was commissioned, dates it was deployed, completion rates in 2017, and a copy of any such training. “

Cafcass replied:

Cafcass has not implemented any new training since January 2017 on the
issues of coached children or parental influence over children.

Cafcass has a Coached Children Knowledge Bite and a Post-Separation
Control: the impact on the child Knowledge Bite which were sent to you in
response to FOI request CAF17–61 and CAF17–68. Knowledge Bites are
succinct summaries of key issues on specific topics and list relevant resources
available to staff.

Cafcass has an ‘off the shelf’ training module on ‘High Conflict Child
Arrangements Disputes’, which explores the risk to contact and the key
elements in high conflict contact disputes and the impact on children. Off the
shelf training packages are intended for Service Managers to deliver locally to
their teams at team level through team meetings and development day.

We also encourage staff to use the ‘impact of parental conflict tool’ in their
direct work with children, where this is relevant.

Staff also have access to resources and research via our extensive in-house
library service, to assist practitioners in being able to assess the presence of
implacable hostility in private law cases.


Originally published at The Voice of the Child.

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