Transcript

CHARLEY

My name is Charley and I'm currently working for a local authority. I am fairly new to the local authority actually, started in December. But prior to that, I had 15 years experience in private practice. I have moved to different areas, so I do have experience of the Coventry and the Milton Keynes FDAC courts.

So in terms of FDAC and the traditional family courts, I think that there are a few differences. We're obviously in statute that we've got to look at a timetable of 26 weeks. With FDAC, it is more or less accepted that it won't run within 26 weeks, because the FDAC model itself takes such a time, both to have the assessment to get up and running, then to allow the trial for change. Then there may be an extension thereafter. Then we're subject to court listing. And so it's really hard. It's a really tight time scale to fit everything in.

With the normal family track, if I can call it that, you don't have to consider the FDAC models. So you're then looking at things like a parenting assessment. And if that's all that's needed, that can quite easily then be put in that 26-week time scale. But yeah, if you throw in a different variable where an expert assessment is needed, again, that can make it still really tight.

A significant difference, I think, would be that a parent or family would have to almost find their own way through the normal track of care proceedings, in that if they needed therapy, the onus is on them to go to their GP to seek their therapy, or if they've got a drug and alcohol issue, that they would need to seek help with that.

And sometimes that's a big ask, actually taking that step. And it depends very much on where that parent or carer is in the cycle of change, whether they're ready to take that step. With a multidisciplinary team in the FDAC model, I would say that you've got a much better chance of being supported to be able to take those steps and it be measured throughout.

But going back to the normal family track, I think you haven't got what the FDAC has got. You don't have the fortnightly non-lawyer reviews. So with the FDAC, you can go and talk to the judge; the judge will say how well you're doing or things that need to be improved or the judge can understand what are the issues.

And it's very much that things are keeping a check on regularly throughout the FDAC model. Whereas within the normal track of care proceedings, you don't have that at all. You won't have that judge's input from one hearing to the next. And I think that is a significant issue.

The guardian as well that's involved in the process, the guardian and the social worker would be invited to the non-lawyer reviews in the FDAC process. They can't always attend, but they are involved in that. And so, again, there's that regular professional input and working with the judge. So if there are issues, they're highlighted much quicker, I think, than in the normal track. I mean there are cases where the normal track is required. So for example, where you need a significant expert report when there's a non-accidental injury and things like that. There are places for that track. But I think if we're looking at a case where there's drugs, alcohol, domestic abuse, and areas that perhaps parents need that learning, they need that support, that is given to them, or every opportunity is given to them, and it's up to them whether they grasp that.

I think the FDAC model is a more sympathetic model, and I think that it has a very good framework. You've got a multidisciplinary team which is available to the family. So you would have a psychologist or psychiatrist. You'd have a social worker. You'd have a drug or alcohol worker. There'd be regular testing. There'd be regular reports, there'd be regular reviews, as in taking stock after so many weeks after a child for change. Sometimes we'd extend it if we can see some positives.

And I think it is very much focused on problem-solving. And I find that a really useful way of perhaps the families being able to measure and see some progress in themselves. And I think that's a big difference compared with the usual family proceedings track, which we may go on to talk about shortly.

I think the families have much more involvement in the FDAC process. And it can receive higher success rates, I think, even if it is that the child is not returned at the end of it. Using the family model in the FDAC process, I think they've been given absolutely every opportunity. And whilst I was in private practice, I used to refer to it as the golden ticket, where you've got all the help readily available, you've just got to grab it.

I think that the traditional care proceedings, I feel that the parent or carer is very much-- the onus is on them to make the change. And they've got to find their own way out of the difficulties that they have found themselves in. They obviously generally have a solicitor to help them, and sometimes they have a key worker. But I think it's very much down to whether or not they are willing and able to make the changes for themselves.

And I think that's the hardest part for them. I think it's difficult that sometimes we don't have input or professional input for periods of time, and I think the parents or carers perhaps lose sight then of their way. And that's where the FDAC model, I think, can improve success rates.