The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) has seen a rise in both care applications and private law applications during July this year, compared to the same period last year.
The role of Cafcass is to represent children in family court cases, making sure that their voices are heard and that the decisions that are made about them are in their best interests. It supports or works with over 115,000 children in public and private law cases every year.
The types of cases it gets involved with include:
- Adoption
- Care Orders (public law)
- Emergency Protection Orders (public law)
- Residency and contact following divorce and separation (private law)
In July 2015, Cafcass received a total of 1,111 care applications, which represents a 9% increase compared to those received in July 2014.
The figures also show that between April 2014 and March 2015 Cafcass received a total of 11,149 applications. This figure is 5% higher when compared to the same period in the previous financial year, when 10,620 applications were received.
With regards to private law cases, Cafcass received a total of 3,554 new cases in July 2015, which is a 23% increase on July 2014 levels. Between April 2014 and March 2015 Cafcass received a total of 34,186 new private law cases, which is a decrease of 27% from the 46,636 cases received in the previous financial year.
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