Mike Coote Marie Holland Commissioning and Partnerships Managers

1. Mike CooteMarie Holland Commissioning and Partnerships Managers Commissioned Child Contact Commissioning and Partnerships Team

2. Update • The Family Justice Review – proportionate interventions, cases moving out of court, and complex cases • The range of services provided by the voluntary sector (Supported, Supervised, Mediation, SPIP, DVPP) is developing • Reduced ‘bureaucracy’ and increased self assessment and evaluation

3. Commissioned Child Contact • Supervised Contact: • is an intervention for complex cases. • needs to deliver high quality purposeful interventions that are well thought through, documented, reliable, and focussed on successful outcomes. • needs to be well connected in a multi- agency environment

4. Commissioned Child Contact • The Family Justice System is on a road to change and improvement, it would be unexpected if it were smooth • Cafcass proportionate working • Providers of services need to be robust and resilient • C & P need to give good notice of requirements and changes

5. Commissioned Child Contact • What does effective working with Cafcass look like?

6. Commissioned Child Contact • Clarity about the service required and provided • Good communication • Sound assessment of risk with reliable reporting • Good management and governance • Good reporting back

7. Commissioned Child Contact • Contact Supervision – observed and reported • The provision of child contact services is in support of the Children and Adoption Act 2006 • Work with children and families should aim to develop and enhance children’s relationships with parents, develop parenting skills, and encourage families, where it is safe, to take responsibility for their own arrangements.

8. Commissioned Child Contact • Contact Supervision – observed and reported • Supervision of contact between child and family member(s). To ensure safe contact, establish what is working and what could be improved, and to work with the child and parents to make changes. Establishing safe and appropriate next steps. Can also be used only to monitor contact while awaiting resolution of risk issues. • Planning the service with the CAFCASS practitioner: frequency, venue and nature of service. Recording this plan. • Delivery of services over a period not longer than 6 months.

9. Commissioned Child Contact • Contact Supervision – observed and reported • Recording all contacts and actions taken. Recording the child’s responses and providing this as planned to the CAFCASS practitioner in the agreed format. • Where required to do so by CAFCASS the author of any report will attend court to give evidence. This is likely to be infrequently required at this level of service

10. Commissioning and Partnerships Team