Cheshire families to benefit from child-focused courts

New approach to family courts to support Cheshire children and families

Children and families across Cheshire are set to benefit from a new approach to family courts, designed to reduce delays, improve support for domestic abuse victims and ensure children’s voices are heard.

The Cheshire and Merseyside family court area is among the latest areas in England and Wales to introduce the Government’s Child Focused Courts programme.

The approach puts children’s safety, wellbeing and needs at the centre of family court decisions. It aims to identify risks earlier, particularly where domestic abuse is involved, while helping to reduce the time families spend going through what can be a stressful court process.

The programme follows successful pilots in 10 areas, where cases were resolved more quickly and children and families received better support. In some cases, proceedings were completed up to seven and a half months sooner.

Specialist support for victims

More than £677,000 in funding has been secured from the Ministry of Justice over the next two years to introduce specialist Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, known as IDVAs, into the family court process across Cheshire and Merseyside.

Following an open application process in July, Local Solutions has been appointed to deliver the service. Five organisations applied to provide the support.

Local Solutions’ specialist advisers will work with courts, local authorities, police, Cafcass and safeguarding partners. They will help ensure that the experiences and safety concerns of domestic abuse victims are properly understood.

The advisers will also help identify risks at an earlier stage and connect children, young people and families with appropriate support services.

The new service is expected to begin operating across Cheshire and Merseyside in November.

Working across the region

Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dan Price said the partnership would strengthen support for children and families across the region.

He said Cheshire would work closely with Merseyside and other partners to share learning, improve practice and help achieve better outcomes for local families.

Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell said family court proceedings could be particularly difficult when domestic abuse was involved.

She said the new approach would help keep children’s welfare at the centre of proceedings, while ensuring victims received specialist support and safeguarding from the earliest possible stage.

Kerry Dowling, Head of Early Intervention, Prevention and Participation at Local Solutions, said the organisation was pleased to have been selected to deliver the service.

She said specialist advisers would help ensure domestic abuse, coercive control and safeguarding concerns were identified and understood as early as possible, with the safety and experiences of victims and children considered throughout the court process.