14. Responding to safeguarding letters

What is a Cafcass Safeguarding Letter?

Under the traditional Child Arrangements Programme, Cafcass undertakes initial safeguarding enquiries after receiving a private-law children application from the court.

Those enquiries ordinarily include police and local-authority safeguarding checks and separate telephone discussions with the adult parties.

Cafcass then provides the court with a short Safeguarding Letter setting out the information gathered, identified welfare or safety concerns and the FCA's initial advice about what should happen next.

When should it be filed?

Under PD12B, in a standard CAP case the Safeguarding Letter should ordinarily be provided to the court within the required safeguarding timetable and at least three working days before the first hearing.

The letter should identify which relevant court forms Cafcass considered, including the C100, C7 and C1A where applicable.

Will you receive a copy?

In most cases the parties receive the Safeguarding Letter before the hearing.

Cafcass explains that there can be exceptions — for example where disclosing part of the information could create a risk to another person, or where there has not been enough time before the hearing.

PD12J provides that if the parties have not been given the safeguarding material by the time of the FHDRA, the court must ordinarily inform them of its contents unless doing so would create a risk of harm to a party or the child.

What might Cafcass advise?

Depending on the information available, the advice may include:

• that no further Cafcass assessment is presently required;
• that the court can consider an agreed arrangement;
• that further welfare assessment under section 7 is required;
• that additional safeguarding information or disclosure is needed;
• that the court should consider whether factual disputes require determination;
• that particular interim arrangements require caution or safeguards;
• or that the case should proceed towards a further or final hearing.

How should you check a Safeguarding Letter?

Do not read only the recommendation at the end.

Work through the letter systematically. Its value lies partly in understanding where each piece of information came from.

Separate source from interpretation

A Safeguarding Letter can contain several different forms of information in a short space. Keep them separate.

What if the checks are incomplete?

Sometimes safeguarding information is not available in time for the first hearing.

PD12J is particularly strict where domestic abuse or other risk issues arise. If the safeguarding checks are unavailable and no other reliable safeguarding information is available, the court should ordinarily adjourn rather than make substantive interim child-arrangements decisions without the necessary safeguarding material.

Cafcass may also be asked to provide an update once outstanding checks are received.

Safeguarding allegations, domestic abuse and PD12J

Where information before the first hearing indicates that domestic abuse may be relevant to the welfare decision, Practice Direction 12J requires the court to address the issue.

That information may come from:

• the C1A;
• the C100 or response;
• the Safeguarding Letter;
• police or local-authority information;
• what a party tells the court;
• or another reliable source.

Does an allegation in the Safeguarding Letter become a fact?

No.

A letter may record that one parent alleges domestic abuse, substance misuse, neglect, coercive control, stalking, emotional harm or another safeguarding concern.

Recording the allegation does not determine that it happened.

Equally, the court does not need to conduct a fact-finding hearing merely because allegations have been made.

When is fact-finding necessary?

Under PD12J, the court should determine as soon as possible whether disputed allegations need to be determined in order to:

• provide a factual basis for a welfare report;
• enable an accurate assessment of risk;
• determine the final child-arrangements issues;
• or consider an appropriate domestic-abuse intervention.

The court must also consider whether the proposed fact-finding exercise is necessary and proportionate.

What if an admission is made?

PD12J provides that where a party makes an admission of domestic abuse at a hearing, the admission must be recorded in writing by the judge and set out in a schedule to the relevant order.

An admission may therefore alter whether further fact-finding is necessary and can become part of the factual platform for later welfare assessment.

What if Cafcass identifies an immediate risk of harm?

Section 16A of the Children Act 1989 requires Cafcass to provide a risk assessment where an officer has cause to suspect that the child is at risk of harm.

Cafcass also states that where the FCA is concerned about the child's safety, the FCA may be required to refer those concerns to children's social care.

What happens with the Safeguarding Letter at the first hearing?

In a standard CAP case, the First Hearing Dispute Resolution Appointment — commonly called the FHDRA — is the first substantive court hearing.

By then the court should ordinarily have the parties' application and response forms and the Cafcass safeguarding material.

The purpose is not simply to decide who is right or wrong. The court needs to identify:

• what the child-related issues actually are;
• whether safeguarding concerns exist;
• which matters are agreed;
• which factual issues remain disputed;
• whether further evidence is necessary;
• whether further professional assessment is required;
• what interim arrangement, if any, is safe and appropriate;
• and how the case should proceed towards resolution.

What about interim contact where allegations remain unresolved?

PD12J contains specific safeguards.

Where a fact-finding hearing has been directed, or relevant domestic-abuse allegations remain undetermined, the court should not make an interim child-arrangements order unless satisfied that doing so is in the child's interests and will not expose the child or the other parent to an unmanageable risk of harm.

The court should consider the welfare checklist and the potential physical, emotional and psychological effect of making — or declining to make — the interim order.

Where interim direct contact is being considered, the court should also consider:

• whether supervision or support is necessary;
• where and by whom contact could safely be managed;
• whether suitable facilities are available;
• whether indirect contact would be more appropriate;
• and whether the proposed contact would actually benefit the child.

What if Cafcass suggests a section 7 report?

The court decides whether a section 7 assessment is required and what questions it should address.

If a fact-finding hearing is required in a domestic-abuse case, PD12J provides that the court will not usually request the substantive section 7 report until after the factual issues have been determined.

This is because the FCA undertaking later welfare assessment may need a clear factual platform from which to assess risk and future arrangements.

How should a litigant in person respond?

A useful response is short enough to be usable at the first hearing but detailed enough to identify anything that could materially affect safeguarding or case management.

The aim is not to rewrite the Safeguarding Letter.

The aim is to make the court's job easier.

A simple response structure

What not to do

• Do not send pages of hostile commentary simply because you dislike the letter.
• Do not call Cafcass “corrupt” or “biased” without identifying a proper evidential basis.
• Do not treat the other parent's allegations as findings merely because Cafcass recorded them.
• Do not assume police involvement proves an allegation.
• Do not assume the absence of police action disproves domestic abuse.
• Do not bury the important safeguarding issue beneath dozens of minor corrections.
• Do not send confidential Family Court material to social media or unrelated third parties.
• Do not ask the court to determine allegations that would make no difference to welfare simply to establish who was “right”.

Do you need a position statement?

A short position statement can be particularly useful where:

• the Safeguarding Letter contains a material factual error;
• serious allegations are disputed;
• you need the court to consider particular disclosure;
• you seek or oppose a fact-finding hearing;
• you need participation or safety measures;
• there is a dispute about interim contact;
• or the directions you seek need to be set out clearly.

It should usually focus on the issues the court needs to deal with at that hearing, not attempt to become your final witness statement.

Factual corrections versus professional disagreement

Cafcass permits parties to raise straightforward factual inaccuracies with the FCA or their manager.

But if the real issue is disagreement with professional assessment or advice to the court, that substantive issue belongs within the court proceedings.

Key cases, official sources and preparing for the FHDRA

Documents to have ready

Before the first hearing, put these documents together:

1. the Cafcass Safeguarding Letter;
2. the C100 application;
3. the applicant's C1A, if any;
4. the C7 response;
5. the respondent's C1A, if any;
6. the hearing notice;
7. any existing Child Arrangements Order or other relevant order;
8. any previous findings of fact or recorded admissions;
9. the small number of documents needed to evidence an important correction;
10. and a short note of the directions or interim arrangement you want the court to consider.

Primary sources and official guidance

1. Cafcass — A Family Court Adviser gives safeguarding advice to court — current explanation of the Safeguarding Letter, checks, interviews, risk and advice.
2. Cafcass — Overview of involvement in private-law proceedings — safeguarding checks, interviews, timing of the letter and first-hearing process.
3. Practice Direction 12B — Child Arrangements Programme — safeguarding enquiries, Safeguarding Letters, FHDRA and case-management framework.
4. Practice Direction 12J — Domestic Abuse & Harm — safeguarding before the FHDRA, fact-finding, section 7 reports and interim arrangements.
5. Children Act 1989 — section 1 — paramountcy, delay and welfare checklist.
6. Children Act 1989 — section 7 — welfare reports.
7. Children Act 1989 — section 16A — Cafcass risk assessments where a child is suspected to be at risk of harm.
8. Practice Direction 36Z / Child Focused Model — current alternative private-law pathway using the Child Impact Report.
9. Cafcass Cymru — Child Focused Courts national rollout — confirms that all family courts in Wales already operate the Child Focused Model.
10. K v K [2022] EWCA Civ 468 — necessity and proportionality of fact-finding following early safeguarding material.
11. Re H-N and Others [2021] EWCA Civ 448 — domestic abuse, patterns of behaviour and fact-finding in private-law proceedings.
12. D (Change of Circumstances: Domestic Abuse Allegations) [2026] EWCA Civ 969 — current authority on the boundary between Cafcass risk assessment and judicial findings.