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·         NAGALRO Response  to Cafcass Safeguarding Framework Policy consultation - August 2006

·         NAGALRO Response to  Review of the Child Care Proceedings System - May 2006

NAGALRO held its AGM on 3 March 2008.  The followoing resolutions were passed unanimously:

 

RESOLUTION 1

This AGM notes the intention of the Public Law Outline but
1) does not accept that children should be left without independent representation of their interests during the crucial ‘pre-proceedings’ phase of the PLO.  Immediate revision to the PLO should be made to include legal and welfare tandem representation of the child during the ‘pre-proceedings’ phase,

and

2) does not accept that the extreme levels of Court charges proposed should be levied against Local Authorities as these may compromise the safety and well-being of very vulnerable children

 

RESOLUTION 2

This AGM deplores the continual erosion of the fee structures for family solicitors.\

Only an immediate reconsideration of the fixed fees now on offer will halt the loss of expert legal practitioners who are leaving the public family law arena.

RESOLUTION 3

This AGM notes the conclusions of the recent inspection of the East Midlands region of CAFCASS. If this is an accurate assessment then we recommend that the promotion of high quality practice through the provision of training and support for practitioners should become the priority.

Cafcass should reduce its emphasis on regulation, monitoring, over-management and bureaucracy.  A radical simplification of management is required to divert resources into securing better practice standards.

 

RESOLUTION 4

NAGALRO considers that the legally prescribed duty to safeguard the interests of the individual child, throughout the life of family court proceedings, is a cornerstone of the role of children’s guardian.  It provides the context in which rigorous analysis, welfare representation and robust advocacy take place.

Cafcass and Cafcass Cymru persist in confusing this personal appointment with their own, corporate responsibility to children and appear determined to remove this fundamental aspect of the role.

The HMICA inspection report of Sept 2007 Children’s Guardians and Care Proceedings was misguided in its approach.

NAGALRO believes that to dispense with the personal appointment would be to the detriment of some of the most vulnerable children.

 


NAGALRO held its AGM on 12 March 2007.  The following resolutions were passed unanimously:

This AGM endorses the statement by UNICEF in February 2007, thus:
‘The true measure of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its children – their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialisation, and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which they were born,’
UNICEF. Innocenti Research Centre, 2007. Child Poverty in Perspective:    An Overview of Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries

This AGM calls upon the government to reconsider the reducing budgets allocated to CAFCASS and to Community Legal Services.
Unless there is a change of course in thinking, spending and capacity to deliver a quality service to children who need welfare and legal representation in civil matters, the welfare of some of our most vulnerable children will be further damaged.

This AGM notes the CAFCASS proposals in Organising for Quality, which will:

  • reduce the professional time available for each child in public law proceedings,
  • deny many children the continuity and protection of a single welfare advocate throughout proceedings, and
  • introduce unqualified workers to undertake complex professional tasks.

These proposals amount to a further attack on professional standards by CAFCASS and a consequent reduction in the service to vulnerable children. This AGM deplores the proposals.

 

NAGALRO  AGM  March 2006.  During the past year there have been a number of consultations and developments which have raised questions about the future of services for children who are the subject of family proceedings.  These include the DCA Child Care Review, the consultation from CAFCASS, Every Day Matters, and more recently concerns arising from the decision that CAFCASS will not receive any additional funding for the year 2006/2007.

NAGALRO is very concerned about the potential impact on the children whom our members serve.  At the AGM the following resolutions were passed unanimously:

  1. This AGM of NAGALRO deplores the Government’s continuing significant delay in fully implementing S122 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 which provides for s8 applications to be specified proceedings under the Children Act 1989. This delay is alarming because it continues the Government’s disappointing record with respect to real improvement in children’s rights.  In this instance, the Government’s delay in guaranteeing to children and young people the right to separate representation in Family Proceedings, despite the Government’s assurances to the contrary, fundamentally compromises the likelihood in every case of the best outcome being achieved for children at the most critical point when life-shaping decisions are being made about them.

2.        This AGM of NAGALRO rejects the idea that ‘Every Day Matters’ is a professional strategy.  This AGM recommends that ‘Every Day Matters’ should be recognised as an attempt by senior CAFCASS managers to meet rising demand and provide more services without any increase in the budget.  Practitioners will only have confidence in CAFCASS’ objectives when it makes a commitment to sustaining and improving the quality of the service to the children for whom it is appointed to act.

  1. This AGM notes the fact that CAFCASS has a standstill budget for 2006/2007 and recognises that this will have an impact on its work. It calls upon CAFCASS to ensure that the service to children in family proceedings is given top priority and to protect them from the impact of budget reductions.   The savings need to take place in management costs, strategy provision and overheads.

  2. This AGM calls on CAFCASS to commit itself to maintaining and raising the quality of the professional work carried out by its practitioners. It asks CAFCASS as a matter of urgency to work with its professional organisations to:

a) identify and agree the standards of work that should be met by its Family Court Advisors
b) produce best practice guidelines
c) provide the necessary training to achieve these standards as a matter of priority
d) maintain the professional independence and integrity of its practitioners


 


The NAGALRO Autumn conference took place on 10 October 2005.  At a meeting of NAGALRO members, the following 5 resolutions were passed unanimously:

This Conference notes the Budget constraints facing CAFCASS. Nonetheless:

Resolution 1.    This Conference considers there is a likelihood that the risk to some children will be increased by short-term decisions by CAFCASS to constrain work in individual cases.

Resolution 2.    This Conference deplores the possibility of employee workloads increasing and other misguided remedies being used with the sole aim of meeting key targets linked to apparently avoiding delay.

Resolution 3.    This Conference insists CAFCASS follows a principle of equality in relation to savings and cuts.  These should fall equally on all professional areas – senior and local managers, employed practitioners, self-employed practitioners and administrators.  

Resolution 4.     This Conference insists CAFCASS commits itself to quality, which includes consideration that some applications may receive no service rather than a poor service until the budget increases.

Resolution 5.    This Conference demands that CAFCASS ensures there is a balanced mixed economy of professional resources across all regions

NAGALRO Conference Press Release 11 October 2005


Click here for the resolutions passed at The NAGALRO Annual General Meeting which  took place on 14 March 2005.  

Recent NAGALRO responses: