Cafcass Reviews 

86.4% of the CAFCASS workforce is female. Yet when a father requests male representation, rather than having that request respected, he can find himself facing hostility from the very professionals responsible for his case.

In my experience, that hostility has had devastating consequences.

It is on record that Emma Hood of CAFCASS has been involved in preventing me from having contact with my daughter. In her own words, this is not because I pose a danger to my family, but because I refused to communicate with her over the telephone, where she could control the narrative without leaving a written record. Instead, I repeatedly attempted to communicate by email, but my messages went unanswered.

I also maintain that she made false statements in court. When my daughter was initially removed from my care, I wasn't even informed of what was happening. Emma subsequently went on holiday for a week, leaving the situation unresolved. I contend that the initial removal exceeded the 72-hour period permitted for an emergency protection order.

The police and social services were also involved, and neither agreed with her recommendations. Nevertheless, she obtained the agreement of a Birmingham Family Court judge based on fragmented and misleading information, without my account being properly presented or considered.

And this is only a small part of what is wrong with the wider system.

My experiences have extended far beyond CAFCASS and the family courts. Across multiple institutions, I have repeatedly encountered female-dominated professional environments in which my concerns have been dismissed, my requests for representation resisted, and my attempts to challenge decisions treated as problems in themselves.

What concerns me most is that these institutional failures do not affect fathers alone.

Mothers and children also suffer devastating consequences when professionals prioritise protecting their decisions, reputations or institutional interests over acknowledging mistakes and correcting them.

The issue is not simply who holds authority, but what happens when that authority is exercised without meaningful accountability, and when the people suffering the consequences are denied an effective opportunity to challenge it.

In my personal opinion, I would rate professional work at minus 50 out of 10.

I am extremely disappointed with the quality of her work and her approach to my case.

If I were in her position, I would seriously consider changing careers. Perhaps working somewhere like a library would be more suitable.

I believe that working with children and families requires fairness, objectivity, professionalism and a great deal of responsibility.

Based on my personal experience, I do not believe that the standard of work I received met those expectations.

This is my personal opinion based on my experience with

Worked for 15s

Very disappointing communication and complaint handling

My experience with Cafcass has left me feeling unheard and let down. I raised concerns about factual accuracy and requested corrections, but despite repeated follow-ups, I have not received the clear resolution I expected.

I did not feel my concerns were considered fairly or thoroughly. The lack of communication and follow-through has added considerable stress during an already difficult time and seriously damaged my confidence in the service.

Families deserve accuracy, impartiality and accountability. Cafcass needs to take complaints seriously, correct acknowledged mistakes promptly and provide clear updates rather than leaving parents chasing answers.

AAWFUL organisation, if could give zero stars I would!

1st lady I spoke to after my ex cut contact between my 3 children and I, who I have always had a very very close and loving relationship with, said that she has read the previous child impact report generated by a senior social services representative and that it was clear that it is recommended for the children to have a 50/50 relationship with me, and that consideration should be given to the children's living arrangements as they all state that they want to live with me.

No disrespect to their mum, she loves them in her own way, but everyone involved has agreed that they children are more relaxed, happy, playful, in a good mood, and play nicely together while in my care. One of the documents that cafcass had to refer to was a statement of allegations from my ex, containing completely fabricated historic abuse claims, dating back no sooner than 5 years and as far back as 13 years. I denied all allegations, and every last one was dropped by the police, due to their being zero evidence for any claim whatsoever. Social services views were that even if it had taken place, the children report they never saw or heard anything apart from mum shouting at dad alot. The children didn't see or hear anything in 13 years because nothing ever happened!

Cafcass, who are the eyes and ears if the court, are supposedly non biased and solely focus on the children's best needs, have changed the representative that I had previously spoke to, the lady who assured me they are looking to increase contact.

This new representative has only applied weight to the historical abuse allegations and has recommended that I only see my children under professional supervision, until we do a fact find hearing, which she estimates around a further 3-4 months before an order is made. I had clutched, hung on to and taken peace that although it may be painful in the short term, in the long run the children will have what they want and see us both 50/50, that was the initial guidance after all. I can only imagine the upset my children must be feeling , to then have the complete opposite result. The new lady said she isn't calling me a liar but she struggles to believe that the other representative would of said what she did, so I requested the call recordings from our 3 conversations, but only to find out their calls aren't recorded. Seriously, what kind of professional organisation, especially one with such weight and impact on a child and a family's life, doesn't record their calls in 2026?! I asked for a transcript, notes from the call, anything, but alas they don't keep any kind of record. I've worked for call centres back many years who kept a better record if conversations! All calls going forward will be recorded my end. To just completely cut contact to a supervised contact centre, after almost 3 years of them building up and settling in to a second home with me, designing their own bedrooms, helping choose the furniture for the house, they now expect us to see each other twice a week for 2 hours in a clinical contact centre, where a judge herself has already told us it's no place you want to send your kid unless absolutely necessarry. Im hoping the judge sees the bigger picture, instead of forming a view that goes against anyone's wishes, apart from my ex's. Whoever said the family court system was 50/50 these days and not just biased to women, I can tell you from 3 years of experience that they still are. All a woman has to do is make an allegation, a decade old with no proof at all, and all of a sudden your home if ripped away from you and your kids and you're trying to be pushed in to a contact centre. I know 3 other people personally who have dealt with cafcass as the father wanting contact re-established with his kids, and theu all have had negative thing to say about bias and ignoring the childrens wants abd needs altogether. If possible then avoid at all costs

After 11 years in the family court system and working with four different Cafcass officers. Unfortunately, our experiences have been consistently poor.
Most recently, the assigned officer interviewed my daughter which is 12 years old, telling the Cafcass that her father called her stupid B*** word, has bad temper, telling her she didn't get in the school she wanted because she wasn't good enough, and many more..... but Cafcass failed to properly listen to or document her wishes. Instead, the officer (she ) dismissed her views by claiming she was being influenced by her mother, which is completely untrue. I am highly disappointed by the lack of objectivity and professional standard shown throughout this process.
They are supposed to act in the children's best interests, instead, they are on the Perpetrator's side.

Carcass believed every lie my brothers ex said and now hes not aloud to see his son! He's a good dad and she is a narcissist who constantly lies (even in court when she admitted lying) and now he cant see his son! Carcass made my brother out to be an animal! Disgusting!

Cafcass needs a major review into how it handles its cases, as a person looking in at a family member going through absolute hell trying to see his son the organisation has been abysmal and so one sided.... when will justice happen for father's that get their kids stripped away from them over vicious lies and deceit.

If youre a man even if youve been abused, controlled and subject to awful behaviour during youre seperation or relationship and you think these guys will help youre so wrong! They will only ever side with the woman regardles or how much evidence or how much you explain or try show how much you where abused, harassed and controlled it will not matter! We men are truly not built to win in this system built for woman regardless if that woman is a phycotic narcissistic woman or not, regardles if she abuses you and youre kids or not, so Men do your self a favour stay the far away as you possible can from this organisation they will not help ypu they will only make matters worse 10x over.

Terrible company need to be shut down immediately nothing but corrupt horrible liars who ruin the lives of children don’t ever use this company ever avoid at all costs the staff the way they treat kids and lie is disgusting if I could give them 0 I would

Useless !
Incompetent , waste of tax payers money.
Bringing misery to families.

Tomas sus propias decisiones y conclusienes pasando por alto datos y evidencias. Juzgan y te hacen sertir juzgado sin darte voz. Como experiencia ha esta siendo horrible, sin valorar la voz de lo niños y las curcuantacias reales. Horrible!

Nothing but a bunch of corrupt liars who do not bother to investigate claims for themselves. They merely rubber stamp the lies social workers write, and produce that to the court. They do not care for the children's views at all. My child has made it very clear they do not want to live with foster carers, yet the cafcass guardian has not taken this in to account anywhere in her reports. I also do not like how the cafcass guardian and social worker sit in the same waiting room in court. All pally pally with one another, and are not out for the child's best interest at all. The whole system needs a reform because this current state of it is in shamble. The CQC reports speak for themselves.

If I could give this service minus stars, I absolutely would.

In my experience, this has been an extremely disappointing and frustrating service from start to finish. What makes it worse is that I was never properly spoken to, never given a fair opportunity to explain my side, and never properly heard before a report and recommendations were made about me.

How can anyone claim to provide a fair service when they make decisions without even taking the time to hear both sides? It feels completely one-sided.

The attitude and behaviour I have experienced from some staff has been unacceptable. Instead of helping to resolve difficult situations, my experience has been that their involvement can make an already stressful situation even more difficult. The lack of communication, poor service and dismissive attitude are incredibly frustrating.

I have also been extremely concerned by discrepancies between what I have personally experienced and what has subsequently been recorded or reported. That is precisely why I have made sure to keep records of my interactions. When you feel that your side is not being heard, documenting everything becomes essential.

I honestly could write a book about my experiences. What worries me most is that people going through difficult circumstances may not realise how important it is to challenge inaccuracies, keep evidence and make sure your voice is actually heard.

I genuinely hope that MPs, politicians and those responsible for overseeing these services eventually take a serious look at how people are treated and how decisions and recommendations are made.

People deserve fairness. People deserve to be heard. And people deserve better than having decisions made about them without properly hearing their side of the story.

It’s all a money making scheme.

this system is a disgrace,,they actually ruin ,,and help break up father / daughter relationships,, because they are so mother oriented,, the mother can say anything she wants and gets believed with false tears ,, they stop me seeing my daughter over a false allegation over 13 years ago ,,,and the mother has been allowed to use the system to stop contact unless its at a contact centre,,knowing its costing me money ,,every week,,the last cafcass report was so one sided it embarrassing and i gave the J H all the proof that the mother was lying with videos and messages and pictures,,then to be told they were never looked at ,,,i made a formal complaint to her boss Melinda but was totally covered up and told my complaint will not be looked at ,, even when i spoke with Melinda,, i could even tell how still she was mother oriented and still making excuses for the mother and her staff ,,,iv actually sent her a email saying she should sack JH then hand her own notice in for acting like prehistoric dinosaur in her views and ways ,,,,

Think they’re slick until the police request court disclosure then expose themselves by falsifying documents before sending off to the police. Police will evidently know documents have been tampered with and evident as to who is responsible, especially when the applicant mentions her in police interview. She has just dug a bigger hole for herself. If she will insist on trying to fraudulently remove a second child for the same person. Guilty of child abduction C.J. Bxxxx aka C.J. Sxxx obviously or there would be no need to tamper with documents.

My experience of CAFCASS during private family proceedings left me extremely disappointed and with serious concerns about the way my case was assessed.

I felt that insufficient weight was given to the reality of my relationship with my son and to the fact that I had been having unsupervised contact without incident for a considerable period. In my view, too much emphasis was placed on allegations and historic material, while evidence of what was actually happening between my son and me in the present day was not given the significance it deserved.

What I found particularly telling was the eventual outcome. The court did not simply follow the cautious approach advocated by CAFCASS. The final arrangements provided for regular overnight contact, including a weekly school-night overnight, alternate weekends and substantial/equal holiday time. For me, that outcome only reinforced my concerns about how cautious and restrictive the CAFCASS position had been.

Family proceedings are incredibly important because the relationship between a child and a parent is at stake. Parents deserve an assessment that is balanced, evidence-led and focused on the individual child rather than assumptions or unnecessarily risk-averse recommendations.

Based on my personal experience, I did not feel that standard was achieved. I sincerely hope CAFCASS takes seriously the volume of criticism being expressed by parents and considers how confidence in its assessments can be improved.

Most corrupt organisation come across, reported child abuse, and Mrs D.C then silenced my children, lied in court, they take bribes and walk around in their designer clothing from their bribes.
Left my children with their abuser and when I called out their corruption they went even further with it. Hope karma gets this company and its corrupt employees very quickly. Waste of tax payers money. Ruin lives

Absolutely disgusting. Unprofessional. My Cafcass worker was a female named ‘j**** G******She should NOT be a case worker for anyone. She is severely male centred/all for the men even when they are in the wrong, she completely ignored ALL safeguarding concerns towards my daughter being physically assaulted by her father and her father’s partner, she did not state absolutely any of my concerns to the judge or social services. She was VERY unlrofessional and seemed like she had absolutely no idea how to do her job. She ignored my emails even though I paid for her service and she made a Cafcass report for
Court to which she added pages of what my child’s narcissistic father lied about and did not add 1 single word I had told her. I was beyond shocked to read the report it was like a male centred old lady had written it and I cannot believe I let her into my home. She is vile. Fraud. They steal your money and come to your home for the maximum of 10 minutes and worth LIES into an official report for family court to read even tho she swore to tell nothing but the truth to the judge. I don’t care how long this process takes, I will be taking it further in hopes to get her sacked so no other parent gets treated the way I did.

My experience with Cafcass's London branch was awful. S7 reporter was completely biased towards my ex partner, the children's mother, and simply went along believing everything that she was told. She let my ex partner decide what the S7 contact recommendations should be, and simply did not make the effort to investigate where my ex partner even lived. A huge part of my case was housing, and the fact the children would have been so much better off primarily living with me due to the housing on my side, however, the advisor just ignored all that. She ignored every email I sent her from start to finish, and rushed the report as she had to go on a work holiday/break. I filed a complaint, and even that system is badly designed.

I believe Cafcass is a lottery in that, they likely have some good advisors who do good work, but if you are unfortunate to get a bad one, there really is nothing you can do and your children end up suffering. The organisation needs big changes, and needs advisors who actually look into cases ,and see through things that aren't true. Not advisors who make friends with either partner at the S7 stage and make biased reports.