Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service failed to help woman understand its processes

What happened

Mrs L complained that Cafcass had given inaccurate and misleading information to a court. The court then made a decision that was not in Mrs L's favour. Mrs L also complained that Cafcass did not recognise that she was representing herself during these proceedings and so should have had more support from Cafcass than she did.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. Cafcass had rightly explained to Mrs L that its reports were based on its professional opinion of Mrs L's situation and that if she did not agree with that opinion, she should challenge it in court. We also found that Cafcass was right to tell Mrs L that it could not give her legal advice during these proceedings and this was something that she would need to find for herself.

Cafcass should, however, have given Mrs L more information about what she could expect from it during the court proceedings. In particular, it should have answered her specific questions about Cafcass.

Putting it right

Cafcass apologised to Mrs L for its failure to give her the information she was entitled to. It paid her £350 in recognition of her frustration.