CYP Now - Interview: Children are the experts - Christine Smart, children's rights director, Cafcass

When Anthony Douglas, the chief executive of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), unveiled his plans to restructure the organisation last year, he was praised for introducing a culture of listening to staff.

A logical progression of this approach is that Cafcass is stepping up its efforts in its dealings with another major group of its stakeholders - the children that use its services - with the appointment of its first children's rights director.

Christine Smart, who joined Cafcass in 2002 and has been its regional director for Yorkshire and Humberside and the North West since September 2003, will take up the role full-time next week.

"Children are experts in their own experience," she says. "There's some really good practice across the country, but Cafcass is a national organisation so we need to pull it all together and embed it in our research."

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