ABSTRACT
Section 7(1) of the CA 1989 provides for the preparation of welfare reports wherever a court is considering any question with regard to a child under the Act, and these are usually prepared by the court welfare officer who may be a social worker or probation officer. These reports should deal with ‘such matters relating to the welfare of the child as are required to be dealt with in the report’, and where such a direction is given the report is expected to be thorough and comprehensive (see Scott v Scott [1986] 2 FLR 320, CA; and Re P (Welfare Officer: Duty) [1996] 2 FLR 5, where it was emphasised that first hand and comprehensive research was required). In Re P, the case was remitted to the Family Proceedings Court for reconsideration when the mother appealed on the ground of the manifest inadequacy of the report: the welfare officer had held one meeting only at her office with all parties present and did not assess the quality of the relationships of the parties and the children. For the importance of the welfare report as a channel between the child who is not of an age to communicate ascertainable wishes and feelings to the court personally pursuant to s 1(3)(a), see Chapter 25. A welfare report will usually be essential in contested s 8 order cases (Re V (Residence: Review) [1995] 2 FLR 1010), including those generated by the inability of the court to give a s 41 certificate in divorce (see Chapter 11) and in public law cases. The court welfare officers are now provided by a new family court service called CAFCASS (the Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) and are now called Child and Family Court Reporters. Nevertheless their services remain the same as the former generation of court welfare officers, which it appears they continue to be referred to as by the practising profession. See further 26.7.2, below.
