Cafcass Reviews 

Cafcass have failed my daughter twice. On two separate occasions, we have been through family court due to serious safeguarding concerns. On both occasions, my daughter was refused the opportunity to express her wishes, the Section 7 assessment was not completed, and Cafcass dismissed the safeguarding concerns I raised.

As a result, despite clear risks, the other parent was granted increasing levels of contact each time. It was only after the most recent final hearing that social services themselves had to intervene, recognising that I have done everything I can to protect my daughter, and are now assessing the risks posed by the other parent and implementing a safety plan.

Not only was this shocking enough, but social services reported to Cafcass that they have had EXTENSIVE involvement with that parents other child since 2014, which Cafcass did not consider to be relevant.

The entire experience has been an absolute shambles. Cafcass should be ashamed for the way they continue to fail children who rely on them for protection. The long-term impact this will have on these vulnerable children is deeply concerning and completely unacceptable.

I strongly advise other parents who feel Cafcass have failed them to take their complaints to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Cafcass’s own internal complaints process does not properly investigate or take accountability for their serious shortfalls. Only by escalating matters externally is there any hope of real oversight and change.

If I could I would rate 0. Failed institution. Can't believe it still exists! Very poorly trained. Bias, sexiest, xenophobes. Not fit for purpose. People who are now adults, parents themselves, went through similar serious failures by the same family court system and institutions, when they were children. Awfully shocking! They are part of the problem. From judges, Cafcass court officers to the so called experts. Do not protect children, fathers or families. They destroy and traumatise. Take mothers false allegations and fake stories as facts. Parental alienation by mothers and maternal family is real. Abuse is not a gender issue. Parental Alienation also.

In the case of two young family members, despite them bravely disclosing clear and disturbing accounts of sexual abuse, CAFCASS ignored their voices and the supporting evidence. Instead, they pushed these vulnerable children back into an environment where they feel unsafe and traumatized. The damage this has done is irreversible. It has deeply affected their mental health, their sense of safety, and their trust in adults who are supposed to protect them. There must be serious accountability. How many more children need to suffer before action is taken? How many more will be silenced or forced into danger under the illusion of 'parental rights'? This is not just professional failure, it raises disturbing questions about the culture and priorities within CAFCASS. Urgent, transparent investigation is not only warranted, it is a moral imperative.It is absolutely shocking and beyond comprehension that individuals entrusted with the protection of children could instead be placing them directly in harm’s way. CAFCASS, whose duty is to safeguard children’s welfare, has instead, through inaction, negligence, or worse, facilitated continued access to children by known or alleged abusers. This is not just a failure of judgment; it is a betrayal of the highest order. Someone needs to help these poor children because CAFFCASS are not doing their job!

Utterly Disgusting Service. Treated worse than a dog with rabies. I had no voice, no one cared what so ever about my experience. The Reviews scream for themselves. All these people can't be WRONG!
I was judged by complete incompetence with zero regard for any truth. Judged and dismissed as a bad father without any thought or consideration. These people should be closed down. Its a SCAM. Designed to keep themselves employed.

I had so many glowing references from professionals and parents of children I teach, yet they were not accepted by the court or cafcass. A Cafcass team member even asked me if I was Gay! Utterly disgusting behaviour. I was made to complete vile online courses which I didn't see myself in a single question. I even had to stand and apologise in court for sending a card to my daughter that crossed a line. All I said was "I can't wait to see you". These people are vile!

Never felt so mistreated and alone. My poor daughter, starved of a father who utterly adores her!

Beware at all times.

The court advisor working for Cafcass is very unprofessional, she didn't call me on the appointment day without any notification before or after. After one week of the appointment date she messaged me to arrange the next appointment. On that day she was still being late to call me. During the phone call, her attitude was terrible, without patiance, talking in a super fast speed, giving me the feeling that I did something wrong and she was here to question and judge me. Afterwards in her report she wrote some reviews on me without evidence just using her stereotype.

I never imagined I would have to write this, but my experience with Cafcass over the past two years has been one of the most disheartening and damaging encounters of my life as a father. What I have seen is not a service that protects children or promotes balanced relationships, but one that routinely fails the families it is meant to help.

1. Delays, Disorganisation, and Lack of Communication

Cafcass took months to allocate a Family Court Adviser. After their initial “welcome letter,” there was silence for nearly three months. No meaningful engagement, no updates, no clarity. While families wait in limbo, relationships between parents and children deteriorate. The lack of urgency or structure contradicts everything they promise in their introductory materials.

2. Failure to Listen or Reflect Evidence

When my interview finally took place, I came prepared with documented facts: positive contact notes from the supervised centre, reports from my children’s school showing emotional stability, and my completion of multiple parenting and therapy programmes. None of it was acknowledged. The adviser repeated unproven allegations that had already been dismissed in court and ignored all the verified evidence showing my children were happy, safe, and thriving during contact. I was left feeling invisible, as if nothing I said mattered.

3. Bias and Lack of Critical Analysis

The report mirrored the narrative of the resident parent almost word for word. Serious contradictions and inaccuracies went unchallenged. Even when my children’s statements clearly reflected coaching or emotional priming (“Mum told me Dad could hurt me”), no safeguarding concern was raised. The adviser’s role seemed less about assessing truth and more about preserving a pre-set narrative.

4. Unprofessional and Dismissive Conduct

During my interview, the adviser remarked, “You know, most men walk away; it’s good you still want to be involved.” That comment stayed with me. It revealed the underlying bias in their culture: fathers are seen as optional, not essential. Yet the final report completely contradicted that brief moment of recognition and instead portrayed me as detached and lacking insight, despite clear evidence of commitment and progress.

5. Lack of Transparency and Accountability

Recommendations were never discussed with me before submission to court. They simply arrived as part of a report filled with factual errors, omissions, and speculation. Even the basic factual sections, such as court dates and timeline, were incomplete. There is no proper complaints mechanism that leads to accountability. “We listen and learn” is just branding; in practice, they do not listen, and nothing changes.

6. Impact on Children

This failure is not bureaucratic, it is human. Every delay, every biased report, every omission has a direct effect on children who are already caught in emotional conflict. In my case, these failings prolonged a more than 2 years denial of contact with our sons. Cafcass had the chance to support reunification and healing. Instead, they amplified division and distrust.

Conclusion

Cafcass presents itself as child-focused, but in reality it functions as a mechanical, overburdened, and risk-averse bureaucracy that too often reinforces the narrative of the louder parent. Families like mine are left to pick up the emotional wreckage. I am not alone in this; thousands of other parents are saying the same thing.

Cafcass needs fundamental reform:
- Independent oversight of their reports
- Training on unconscious bias and parental alienation
- Accountability for factual errors that affect real families
- Real dialogue with both parents, not one-sided narratives

Until that happens, I can only echo what many families have already said:
Cafcass is failing families, and in doing so, it is failing children.

Cafcass are even a disgrace to the Children Act 1989.

I had to take my ex to court because she wouldn’t allow me to have my child overnight. Although I have been in foster care as a child & had experience of been brought up by excellent foster parents it made me into a brilliant father. Unfortunately Cafcass have been extremely bias in court hearings & I say this because it’s factual too , I have a 3 year old boy & have been told I cannot take him abroad yet mother can take him away even though I initiated going away with both parents. I have been made to look like someone who’s a monster when in reality I have no criminal record , clean DBS and more so work in an environment where there’s children around. I have always put my child first yet Cafcass fail to look at the bigger picture, how do I explain to my 3 year old I’m taking my older son on holiday on a plane , my 3 year old misses out due to there poor decisions. The courts or CAFCASS should never intervene as much as this , both parents have Parental Responsibility and if both parents put there child first then neither should lose the right of taking them on holiday. CAFCASS are a disgrace & favours mothers more than fathers because of this status quo , not all fathers are bad people some just want to create special memories and give stability to there child hopefully when my child can express himself the courts and Cafcass can eat there recommendations. For anyone reading this please avoid court and Cafcass all together if you can , good parents do not need any inputted rules deal with it yourself and protect your peace , your money and lifetime of stress and court hearings

Corrupt to its core. Ignore safeguarding, complaints, send corrupt usbs when you ask for evidence, emails are purposely difficult to see and receive, can’t speak to anyone about anything. Lie, cover up and silence truth tellers, the worst of the worst social workers who couldn’t quite cut it get slung on this pile of excrement and justice is never done. They think they are untouchable and they are correct !! Abusers get kids, courts think they are gods. Never ever seen such evil hateful people in my life and that’s saying something. Someone really needs to whistle blow this nest of vipers!

If you're a female just cry and make up lies youll be able to boot the dad out of their childs life before they've even met them. No evidence no criminal history needed just lie and accuse your ex of everything and anything youll make them lose access for years while being absolutely destroyed mentally. Absolutely no chance these people should be anywhere near any children on earth pure monsters

I want to warn other parents and also call on the government to look seriously at how Cafcass operates.

In my case, I raised safeguarding concerns — emotional abuse, children being dragged into adult issues, risks in the household, adoption — but none of this was properly included in the report. Instead, Cafcass repeated every allegation the mother made against me, even the smallest things, while ignoring or watering down the serious concerns I raised.

Parents deserve a fair and balanced report when the court is deciding children’s futures. What I experienced was one-sided, selective, and left me feeling unheard. This is not protecting children, this is picking sides.

To other parents: keep everything in writing, because Cafcass may not record your words fairly.
To the government: Cafcass needs urgent reform. Families are being damaged when officers are allowed to present unbalanced reports that leave out vital safeguarding information.

Having heard and read about the reviews on cafcass, I think it's a total and utter disgrace that they are still in operation.Soo much negative feedback, that is saying alot on how unfit these people are in solving any case. Ruining families lives up and down our country. Instead of keeping families together, they are tearing them apart, causing heartache, pain and suffering. Leaving children feeling confused,unhappy,insecure,un-loved, separated from their parent/s and other family members,usually their Dads. This agency need to sit down and think of the damage they are causing with their lies and corrupt ways of doing things.They don't seem to have any empathy let alone compassion for anyone. From an outsider looking in, I haven't got children but if I had, I would never, ever go to this organisation to ask for any kind of help or advice. Their services are in shambles and cannot meet the needs of any family and are put in place to destroy and cause misery to thousands, if not millions of families across the UK. If you are not built on trust/truth you are going to crumble at some point. God is going to judge these evil people one day, where they will have to answer to him, the only place for them is in hell where they belong.

If CAFCASS was a private sector company, based on this kind of SHOCKING feedback, UNAMIOUSLY!!! it would of been Wound Up a long time ago. No business would survive on tjis kind of online feedback 1 Star with many stating they'd give 0 if they could. Over 1,200 People on here cannot all be wrong. Something needs to change, peoples lives depend on this service and quite frankly what I heard and now what Ive experience I am 100% disgusted by their report which ignored every bit of evidence I submitted, completley, and even set about to use my evidence as a negative commenting on how many emails I had sent CAFCASS yet not a single item was used. Yet petty text messages were used and examples of silly things from 7 years ago totally irrelevant yet video footage was ignored along with police reports and everything else. Several errors made, basically a copy and paste service from the last father that was given a rough ride. Appalling, 100% biassed report totally 1 sided despite massive effort on my part to ensure both sides were seen and the big picture. I need not have bothered. Feel cheated, let down and disgusted at the total lack of a neutral and balanced report that sees both sides. No one person should be doing this, this should be 2 people minimum because this 1 person could be susceptible to bribes and I actually believe 1 very important part of the report was a lie. This needs to improve, shocking, 0 out of 5 service if I could give it a zero. Bring on a fact finder because this person needs to be held accountable. Do better for god sake our kids deserve better and so do a lot of dads out there who are being let down by a system which appears broken, biassed and potentially open to corruption. Simple fix GOV.UK - DO NOT ALLOW 1 PERSON WORKING FOR CAFCASS ALONE WRITE A REPORT ON THEIR OWN. TOO MUCH RIDES ON THIS FOR CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS AND I CAN ASSURE EVERY READER OF THIS REVIEW THERE ARE MANY FATHERS NOT GETTING A FAIR DEAL - I MET A DOZEN AT A CHARITY EVENT FOR DADS IN THIS POSITION AS I FIND MYSELF IN AND THEY ALL TELL A SIMILAR STORY.

My grandchildren got stolen through lies from a cafcass joke of a woman based in Trafford who never even spoke to me but judged me as a bad parent to my daughter getting sexually abused when she was young...
How she destroyed my family was despicable...she is corrupt, the whole company are human trafficking young children to gain money in their pockets and nothing is done about it ,the world needs to hear about cafcass,why have they not been exposed yet?
They steal children from innocent good families and its happened to us and still happening to others .

The most disgusting and vile organisation I have had the misfortune of dealing with.

I wouldn't even give them one star if I had the choice because I have a court order they are meant to be doing a safeguarding meeting with me on the 8th of August and I have heard nothing I phoned them up today and said what's happening they apparently extended the dates to September the 8th they can't even follow a court order it is a major mess up

CAFCASS and family courts are the most corrupt, biased, unsafe environments I have ever experienced. As a mother having to navigate the most horrific emotions when my children disclosed sexual abuse allegations against their father, CAFCASS and the family courts have used my own childhood abuse, and neurodiversity to not only re victimise me against a man thats gas lit and coerced me and my children for years, but as a narrative that I have encouraged my children to fabricate these allegations, gas lit my children telling them their reality and experiences ARE NOT REAL and making them doubt their reality. This is corrupt and cruel beyond belief. I have been told I cannot speak out about our treatment and strongly advised to basically take this judgement. My daughter and son have both been suicidal, suffer physical complications, my daughter has a permanent scar on her kidney, as well as severe mental health problems because of their experiences. They have completely failed my children, and made me now suicidal and completely hopeless to protect my children in a world and justice system where a sexual deviant and predator and protected like a victim!!! This man stood on the stand and ADMITTED to impregnating x2 underage girls, and having sex with a further underage girls but CAFCASS DIDNT DEEM THIS RELEVANT!!! This organisation is VILE, and does not protect our children. They are not the voices of our children. They are complete corrupt deviants.

I feel like my review will mirror a lot of others. That in itself should tell you everything you need to know.

This organisation is shockingly bad and that is no exaggeration. The fact that so many people are stating similar experiences, gives the claims great credibility in my eyes.

This organisation isn’t fit for purpose. They don’t act in the best interests of the children at all. That is just a buzzword they like to band around and regurgitate to try and justify their nonsense. Instead they help to cause and enable trauma in children’s lives; forever tainting their childhood.

When they speak to children they ask them leading questions and don’t delve into the things they say or question why they say the things they do. They don’t use any degree of common sense either.

They’re quite happy to ignore one parent breaking the law to gain residency (even though they can see and admit that gives them an “unfair advantage” in court proceedings).

The officer I had dealings with was very cold and had a total lack of empathy. She snook around to my address on one occasion, unannounced when I wasn’t home anyway. This was not directed by the court, nor was it necessary. She acted in such a biased way, supporting the resident parent, despite seeing that his behaviours were “intimidating” and “challenging” (both her words). It didn’t matter how problematic he was in the end as she was always going to act in his favour for the sheer fact he was seen as the resident parent.

Family courts do not like movement or change for children so the parent who is seen as the resident parent (the one the children are living with at the time of proceedings, will always hold the balance of power).

They seem to ignore alienation as if it isn’t an important factor and fail to see the manipulation that these problematic parents use on their own children. I find them to be very dismissive of these types of concerns, due partly to their lack of experience of complex cases and lack of training.

The aforementioned CAFCASS Officer, suggested “safeguards” to be implemented within the final court order in the event that contact breaks down. Says it all if safeguards are needed in the first place because the concern is already there that the “resident parent” will cause issues with contact. That resident parent also has a history of aggression and abuse and is on Claire’s Law (not worrying at all it seems). However, these so called “safeguards” were never explored to see if they were possible or realistic.

As a result it is no surprise that the resident parent in this case breached the court order time and time again. This was never looked at, no sanctions were given as family courts do not care and have no desire to “punish parents”. Once a CAFCASS Officer has washed their hands of a case, they don’t care either as they’ve already moved onto the next family.

Probably one of the most shocking and sad facts in all of this is that CAFCASS are thieves. This is because they steal time; time a child has with a loving parent and deny them of a proper relationship with them by choosing the easy option and making woeful recommendations.

I conclude with a “well done CAFCASS, Chalk this one up as another loss, another disaster and another failing. I truly hope you are all found out and exposed for the abuse enablers you all are. I for one, would not be proud to work for such an organisation. Might want to keep that quiet as anyone who has any knowledge or experience of the organisation will surely have a raised eyebrow or awkward expression when told. God forbid your own children find out that you help to destroy families for a living!

Unfortunately Cafcass is not there for children. They follow their agenda, always being biased and ignoring domestic violence. Cafcass officer said that she gave my son chance to write down his own statement but because it didn't fit her report, she told judged that there was a technical issue and the testimony of my son was not saved and now is gone. I was adviced by SS to apply for advocate for my children, yet Cafcass sabotaged me. They go with "contact" no matter what. And then we see in TV how many children died cause of their unprofessionalism and ignorance. Don't trust Cafcass, gather your own evidence, ask children to write the statements. You are the only person in family court who cares about safety and wellbeing of your children.

I have recently obtained all of Cafcass Cymru’s internal notes via a Data Subject Access Request (ATISN 24975), and the reality is shocking. The documents prove beyond doubt that Cafcass Cymru is disorganised, biased, and professionally inadequate.

Key failures in my case:
• Basic errors: My daughter’s name was repeatedly written down incorrectly, and even her school was misidentified in official notes. This is not a small slip — if they cannot record basic facts accurately, how can they be trusted with life-changing recommendations?
• Missing evidence: My written statement from 3 June 2025 was “lost” despite me submitting it properly and referencing it multiple times. Cafcass simply ignored it.
• Exclusion from key meetings: I was not informed (or only told last-minute) about important interviews on 1 July and 7 July 2025, including when my daughter was taken out of school early without my knowledge. As a parent with shared parental responsibility, I was deliberately sidelined.
• Biased reporting: Allegations made by the mother were logged and repeated without question, while my own evidence was downplayed or dismissed. Hearsay was treated as fact, and no effort was made to check accuracy.
• Dragging up irrelevant history: My criminal record from 2012 — over a decade old and with no safeguarding relevance — was repeatedly brought up and used against me. This is nothing more than character assassination.
• One-way process: The entire experience was a one-way street. Cafcass presented themselves as impartial, but every action showed a clear bias towards the mother and against me.

This organisation should be ashamed of itself. It claims to represent children’s best interests, but what I have seen is laziness, shortcuts, and a desperate attempt to find the easy way out instead of doing the work properly. The interview notes they produced are weak, inaccurate, and in places dishonest.

Cafcass Cymru is not fit for purpose. Their work is an embarrassment to the Welsh Government and to the justice system. Parents are expected to trust them, but the evidence shows they cannot be trusted.

I have already escalated my case to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, and I will continue to expose this organisation for what it is: disorganised, biased, and damaging to families.

If you are unfortunate enough to deal with Cafcass, document everything, submit everything in writing, and never assume they will act fairly or competently.

I have serious concerns about my experience with Cafcass. While claiming to be following all Cafcass practices, I have it in writing that she breached the current Domestic Abuse Practice Pathway — a policy designed to safeguard survivors and ensure appropriate handling of abuse-related cases.

Despite clear safeguarding concerns and extensive professional engagement on my part, her report was built on assumptions rather than evidence, and showed a startling lack of insight into the dynamics of abuse and the support already in place for my children.

Attempts to raise these issues were dismissed, and no accountability appears to follow — meaning the same mistakes can continue in future cases, with potentially serious consequences for other families.

Parents dealing with complex and traumatic situations deserve better — they deserve professionals who are trauma-informed, policy-compliant, and truly child-focused. Sadly, that was not my experience.