The Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) published a joint protocol in February advising court guardians and social workers to work more collaboratively to speed up cases, and where possible divert them from court.
However, the agreement was criticised by guardians' association Nagalro and the National Association of Independent Reviewing Officers, who were concerned that it could undermine the scrutiny of cases, lead to collusion between social workers and guardians and even to children being taken into care inappropriately.
It has now emerged that the document has been withdrawn as a result of the concerns.
In a joint statement, ADCS and Cafcass said: "The agreement between ADCS and Cafcass about how local authorities and Cafcass can work effectively in a set of care proceedings and pre-proceedings was developed with the intention of improving the standard of social work and tackling delays in the family court.
"The document was never intended to undermine the independence of children's guardians, nor was it intended to shut out parents or their representatives from due process within proceedings.
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