A day in the life of a family court adviser

Jane Oakham is a family court adviser for Cafcass Birmingham and the Black Country. She has been with the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service for a year, having previously worked in local authority children’s services.

09:00 Oakham gets into the office before 9am. She checks her laptop for anything urgent, although most of her assignments are prearranged. “Unlike previous social work roles I’ve had, my day is usually quite planned and I know what to expect,” she explains. She is one of more than 80 family court advisers at this busy office in the heart of Birmingham. At the moment, she works only on private law cases, which usually involve disputes between separated parents over contact or residence. The cases can also cover disagreements over school choice, contact with other family members such as grandparents, and children leaving the country.

09:30 Her first appointment is with mum Anita*. Oakham has been asked by the court to write a “multiple issue” Section 7 report on contact and residence for Anita’s primary school-aged children Sunil* and Rana*, who currently live with mum but spend some time with dad. Recently, Rana was distressed at school and children’s social services were called in. It is the second time Oakham has worked with the family, so she has prepared by looking at previous reports and requesting the latest safeguarding information from the local authority and police.

10:00 Anita arrives clutching a sheaf of papers, including emails between her and her ex-husband, and a diary of contact issues and things her children have said. Often families present advisers with lots of information like this, but Oakham has to be careful not to get drawn into arguments, accusations and counter-accusations that are not relevant, she explains.

The children have gone from supervised to unsupervised contact with dad and, according to Anita, it is not working. She claims her daughter, who is due to be seen by the local child and adolescent mental health service, is being “emotionally abused” and her ex is neglecting basic parenting duties, so the children return from a weekend with dad still wearing dirty school uniforms. When Oakham says she may refer the case back to social services for further assessment, Anita says: “I want my daughter not to be scared, so if that means a social worker getting involved, fine.”

Oakham’s role involves meeting or talking to other professionals such as social workers, health visitors, solicitors, family liaison officers and teachers, and she has already spoken to the social worker who recently assessed the two children.

11:30 Oakham draws the meeting to a close. While she will read the contact notes, she tells Anita she will not read the emails and advises her to forward them to her solicitor. “That went extremely well,” she says afterwards. “I got the information I needed and it cleared up some things for me.” However, she stresses that Anita’s account is only one side of the story, so she must speak to the children and their dad before compiling her report. “I have to make sure the information I put in my report is as factual as possible,” she says.

11:45 Oakham nips back to the bustling main office for a catch-up with service manager Liz Edmunds. As she is a relatively new member of staff, all her reports are “quality assured” by Edmunds and she has a learning and development review every three months. If she is worried about anything, she can discuss cases on an ad hoc basis with Edmunds or another manager. She works nine to five Monday to Friday, but often spends up to two days a week working from home, which is what she is planning to do tomorrow. “A lot of people find it easier writing up reports at home because it’s a bit quieter,” she explains.

12:00 Oakham has another meeting, this time with young mum Amy*, who has a sensory impairment. Dealing with communication issues is part of the job; advisers often work with families for whom English is not the first language, or with those affected by physical or learning disabilities. Amy has applied for custody of her young son Peter* and Oakham met the child’s dad last week. She has specifically asked Amy to bring Peter with her to this meeting. “I’m interested in seeing them together,” she says. As they arrive, the reception is quite crowded as the meeting will include Amy’s support worker, her advocate and her advocate’s support worker.

12:30 Amy arrives with Peter in a buggy. Everyone goes into a meeting room and sits in a circle on low chairs. “Do you know why I have asked to meet with you today?” begins Oakham, who gets out toys for Peter. Amy is not sure, which is fairly common. “A lot of the time, people don’t really understand why they are coming,” says Oakham. “They haven’t heard of Cafcass, so I have to explain what my role is and reassure people we don’t make the decisions – that’s up to the court. We make recommendations on what’s best for children.”

As Oakham asks questions about Amy’s relationship with her ex, Amy starts crying. “Don’t get upset,” says Oakham. “I know it’s difficult, but Peter will pick up on your emotions.” 

“Do you want to stop for a breather?” asks Amy’s advocate, but Amy says she is fine to carry on.

Oakham asks if Amy has any questions, but Amy shakes her head. “What worries you the most,” asks Oakham. Amy says she doesn’t know. “Can I guess?” asks Oakham. “Are you worried he’s going to be taken away from you?” “Yes,” says Amy. Oakham cannot make promises, but she says previous assessments by social services of both parents have been positive. Meanwhile, Peter has curled up on mum’s lap and is drifting off to sleep.

One incident Oakham asks about is a row between Amy and her ex-partner at a handover time, which ended in a physical fight. “Getting caught up in an argument like that is upsetting for Peter and it could be dangerous,” she tells Amy. Afterwards she explains: “Peter can’t speak for himself, so I am looking out for anything that affects his health and development.”

Another issue Oakham is keen to address is the fact that Amy does not have a lawyer, something the court is concerned about. Cuts in legal aid mean this is increasingly common, adding to advisers’ already full workload. Service manager Liz Edmunds explains: “We’re getting a lot of people coming through with no legal advice whatsoever, so we need to spend more time explaining things to them and dealing with questions.” Often people may have been to court, like Amy, but not fully understood what happened, adds Oakham.

14:00 Amy and Peter leave with the promise that Amy will get a lawyer with her advocate’s help. “I don’t think she got everything, but that is something her advocate can help with and that’s really positive,” says Oakham.

14:25 Oakham has a late lunch. “I always try and find some space in the day to sit down away from work,” she says. At the moment, she has 26 active cases. Cafcass uses a workload monitoring tool with a traffic light system that gives weight to the different stages cases are at. Anyone on “red” will not be allocated any new cases.

14:45 Anita is back with Sunil and Rana. They are playing with one of the games in the colourful reception area, which is decorated with children’s drawings. Oakham explains she is going to chat to Sunil then Rana. Last time she interviewed them together, but she wants to see them separately, she says, as Rana “can be a bit of a chatterbox”. They laugh.

14:50 Oakham uses a range of methods to interview children – mainly play activities that help them feel at ease and get them talking. These might involve telling stories involving key characters, or established social work tools such as the Three Houses technique. Children may do drawings or write their own letters to the judge. She has already got a farmhouse set out for Sunil and sits low down on the floor. She explains that they are going to play a game with plastic farm animals and finger puppets featuring a “Mummy Farm” and a “Daddy Zoo”.

“Who is daddy?” Asks Oakham. Sunil chooses a shark.
“What happens on Mummy Farm?” asks Oakham.
“No one gets us,” mutters Sunil.
“They don’t shout at you.”
“And in the Daddy Zoo?”
“Daddy bites,” says Sunil. “He eats people because he’s not nice.”

After a while, Sunil loses interest, so Oakham moves onto building a Lego tower. She asks Sunil how his sister and dad get on. “Daddy is nasty to her, he shouts,” he says.

“How does that make you feel?” Oakham asks. “Sad,” says Sunil. When Oakham asks him more about dad, Sunil admits he can be “a bit nice” and likes playing with him.

“If you lived at the top of this tower, who would you want to live with?” asks Oakham. “Mummy, Rana and John* [Anita’s new partner],” says Sunil.

15:15 When it is Rana’s turn, Oakham explains about the game she was playing with Sunil and Rana wants to play too. It is not what Oakham planned, but she explains: “You have to be adaptable and just go with it.”

“This is a bit like your family,” says Oakham, indicating the two different locations and two small creatures needing somewhere to live. “This is my family,” sighs Rana.

Oakham asks what she wants. “I want Daddy to stop shouting and being mean to me. He says bad things about my mum,” she says. She says she wants to spend less time with her father. “I want to see my dad once every two weeks for two hours, alternate weekends,” she says. “That’s very specific,” queries Oakham.

Rana wants to draw a picture. She draws mum on one side of paper, dad on the back, and then dots it with stickers that show different emotions including “confused”. “Sometimes I’m not sure who to choose,” she says.

Oakham finishes by asking Rana about her school clothes. Rana says her granny washes their school uniforms so they are clean when they wear them at home. Oakham draws a happy face and sad face on a piece of paper and asks Rana to say how she felt at the start of the meeting on a scale of one to 10. Rana says she was three at the start, five in the middle, but now she is 10 – happy.

16:15 The family leaves and Oakham makes a few more notes. “When I was talking to the children, I wasn’t taking a lot of notes because it would be distracting,” she says. “The boy wasn’t as precise as his sister as in ‘this is what I want’.” But she is cautious about what Rana said about contact. “I’m not saying she has been coached, but she may have been listening to adults talking about what they want, so she’s using phrases like ‘alternate weekends’.” Sometimes Oakham has to go against the wishes and feelings of the children. She says: “Two hours every two weeks is probably too little for them.”

16:30 Oakham again checks her phone and laptop for any urgent messages. “I’ll take time now to reflect on the day and make sure my notes make sense,” she says. “I see a lot of different children and families so I always try and write up reports as soon as I can.” Often the court will simply look at her written report, but on average she also gives evidence in person about once a month and will be doing this for Sunil and Rana. “It can be quite adult-focused. I’m the voice of the children in court,” she says.

17:00 Oakham usually leaves on time at around 5pm. “I don’t go home feeling stressed because of work,” she says. “I’m speaking up for children and see the benefits. Sometimes families get so caught up in things that it takes a stranger like me to give their point of view and help move things forward. For me, it’s a very positive experience. I love it.”

*Names have been changed


How advisers work

The role of family court advisers is to represent the wishes and best interests of children in both private law cases in the family courts and in public law proceedings, usually care or adoption cases.

They are professionally qualified social workers with experience of working with children and families.

Family court advisers have a legal right to read the local authority files on a child and can inform the court of any information from the files that they think necessary. They will write one or more reports for the court and will make a recommendation about what is best for the child. If the case is contested at court, they will then give evidence and can be questioned by the other parties.

Cafcass (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) employs around 1,200 advisers directly and commissions more than 200 self-employed contractors.

The Birmingham and Black Country service covers Birmingham, Solihull, Sandwell, Dudley, Wolverhampton and Walsall.

Ofsted rated it “inadequate” in 2009 after inspectors found inconsistency in the quality of assessment, case planning, recording and some court reporting.

However, Cafcass says the team has since “worked hard to improve the service”.