Although Cafcass was right to tell Ms N that she should challenge its report in court, a Cafcass officer was wrong when she failed to go to all the court hearings.
What happened
Ms N complained about the way that Cafcass dealt with her family. She was unhappy about: the actions of the Cafcass officers assigned to her family; the impact that contact sessions had on her children; and the actions of the provider of the contact sessions. Ms N said that Cafcass had caused her family emotional and mental distress.
What we found
Cafcass's recommendations were based on the professional judgment of the officers involved in the case. When Ms N complained about that, Cafcass said that she should have raised those complaints in court, as that was the right place to do that. Cafcass was right to say that to Ms N.
Cafcass officers had not attended some of the court hearings, when the court had ordered that they should. We found that this was maladministration on Cafcass's part. However, we found that this had not caused Ms N any injustice because the court decided that it could proceed with the hearing without the officers, and she could have challenged that view in court, had she disagreed.
Cafcass dealt with Ms N's complaint appropriately, and the information it gave us about the provider of the contact sessions was reasonable.
Putting it right
We partly upheld this case because we found maladministration, but we also found no injustice that had affected Ms N as a result of that maladministration. We therefore made no recommendations.
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass)
UK
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Not applicable