Pre-court social worker-guardian meetings have potential to improve information sharing, finds study

Pre-court meetings between children’s social workers and Cafcass guardians have the potential to improve relationships and information sharing in care proceedings, a pilot study has concluded.
However, a longer, forthcoming pilot will be needed to assess whether the meetings can curb current backlogs in care proceedings. According to Cafcass, the average length of time it worked with families in these cases from July to September 2023 was 44 weeks, well above the 26-week target for the dur