New regime for Child Welfare Reporters should bring ‘transparency, consistency and clarity into family law cases’

The new edition incorporates the changes to court rules introduced by Act of Sederunt on 26th October 2015.

As well as altering the title of the person undertaking these reports from bar reporter to child welfare reporter, a variety of other changes have been made to the training of individuals who do reports and the deadlines they must meet as well as to the instructions a sheriff (or judges in the Court of Session) will give them about the issues the court wants them to address.

Where an application for contact or residence cannot be agreed between former partners – or others applying for contact such as grandparents or wider family members – a sheriff or Court of Session judge may order a child welfare report to help him or her get a better sense of the relationships between the child and his or her respective parents and how to identify the best arrangements for the welfare of the child.

The child welfare reporter is independent of both parents and is asked to “fact find” on behalf of the court about the circumstances of a child and the proposed contact or residence arrangements that have been requested.

FNF Scotland national manager, Ian Maxwell (pictured right), was a member of the Scottish government working group that initially drew up the proposed reforms.

He said: “These reforms should bring transparency, consistency and clarity into a key role in family law cases.”

FNF Scotland published a report in 2012 highlighting concerns about the bar reporter system, based on evidence that had emerged from its casework.

Mr Maxwell added: “It wasn’t just us. There was broader concern from other advice agencies as well as among legal professionals engaged in family law work.

“There was general recognition that a system which worked very well in many court cases should nevertheless be more transparent and consistent across all Scotland’s sheriffdoms, that the incidence of poor and damaging practice by some bar reporters should be minimised and that such failings could be challenged effectively when they did occur.

“Almost all of our concerns have been addressed.”

He noted that previously there was no specific training for bar reporters but that now there will mandatory training for child welfare reporters which will include coverage of parental alienation and other issues that previously left non-resident parents and their wider family members frustrated that the court had not been given a full picture of their relationship with their children.

“This should reassure the fathers and mothers who suffer abrupt and unexplained rejection by a child with whom they had previously been close that the reporter must now have some understanding of the dynamics that may be at work,” Mr Maxwell said.

As well as the new rules every parent in a case in which a child welfare reporter is appointed will receive a leaflet explaining the role and powers as well as their duties and obligations.