By William Nicot
The Family Court’s ‘Pathfinder pilot’ is a relatively new initiative, designed to reform the way that private law child arrangements are handled in the Family Court.
The pilot looks to address long-standing concerns about the Court process – predominantly delay, and the impact this can have on children and survivors of domestic abuse. Pathfinder aims to reduce the adversarial nature of these proceedings, with consideration for how the Court can condense issues and avoid contested Hearings where possible.
There is a primary emphasis that the Court ensure the voices of children are heard more effectively.
The average case, to include cases where days/times were in dispute without any significant welfare concerns, was previously taking 6-9 months to conclude. Under Pathfinder, the aim (and current process) is delivering its promise to be reduced to 12-14 weeks. Within a day or two of the application being issued to Court, a Judge or Legal Advisor will review the application and commence the case management process. The process (subject to any urgent issues) generally begins with a Child Impact Report being requested from a CAFCASS officer or member of the local authority. Both parents are spoken to and involved within discussions at a far earlier extent, and, if appropriate, the children also.
There is now a clear disparity between applications being issued in Pathfinder and non-Pathfinder regions in terms of turnaround and processing time. Particularly in the summer months, several applications can become subject to a backlog – taking more than a few weeks to be issued. During this ‘grey area’ period, child arrangements are often in abeyance and one or both parents can often be waiting for regular contact to resume.
The Pilot considered that we need improved outcomes for all users of the Family Court. However, the focus has largely been upon victims of domestic abuse who are parents, and their children who require protection. The importance of the child’s voice in recent decision-making has been clear. It is for this reason that a Child Impact Report is commissioned so early, so that these conversations can be had at the earliest opportunity. Between the author and the child (assuming they are young in age) the child’s needs and wishes are promptly recorded.
The second aim of the Family Court is to reduce trauma and conflict by encouraging non-adversarial or ‘NCDR – Non Court Dispute Resolution’ avenues to be exercised. Family disputes can be highly stressful, and the Court are mindful that parents can be incentivised to make applications based on the guarantee of closure. Clients will certainly notice their solicitor directing them to these avenues more often, and to increase the burden upon parties who seek to unnecessarily litigate before Court is applied for.
A significant part of the Pathfinder process is the early identification of risk. When an application is made to the Family Court, this is screened (to include supporting documents for safeguarding issues like a C1A). If abuse is alleged or identified, CAFCASS can refer the individual for a DASH risk assessment prior to the Court having its first listing. This assessment evaluates the immediacy of risk, informs safety planning, and contributes to the Child Impact Report where Family practitioners do not have expert experience.
Pathfinder is now a process that Family practitioners are becoming used to, and happily adopting, given it is placing great emphasis on timescales and transparency.
So far, Pathfinder feedback appears to demonstrate that cases are concluding without the same number of Hearings (sometimes one Hearing to determine responses to the Child Impact Report, which is significantly cutting costs of representation). The shift in terms of timescale yet resources being kept available for allegations of harm and fact-findings, is ensuring that cases are being filtered through appropriately.
Pathfinder represents a significant shift in how these cases, particularly those involving domestic abuse, are managed. If this continues to be successful, it has the potential to form the basis for broader reforms across the UK and it has been a great opportunity to see this from the early days within South Wales.
