15. Preparing for Cafcass interviews

What kind of Cafcass interview are you preparing for?

There is no single standard “Cafcass interview”.

Before preparing, identify why Cafcass is speaking with you and what document or assessment the contact will feed into.

Early safeguarding telephone interview

Cafcass's current information for parents says that, in most standard CAP cases, each adult party will be offered a telephone interview before the first hearing.

At this stage:

• the focus is primarily safeguarding and risk;
• the FCA will discuss police and local-authority checks where available;
• the adult parties are interviewed separately;
• only parties to the proceedings are interviewed;
• the child is not ordinarily interviewed at this stage;
• a home visit before the first hearing is unlikely;
• and Cafcass advises allowing up to approximately 45 minutes for the telephone interview.

Section 7 assessment

A section 7 assessment is substantially broader.

The FCA decides what information is required by reference to the court's direction, the existing safeguarding material and the disputed welfare issues.

Cafcass says the FCA will ordinarily:

• spend time with the adult parties to hear their concerns about the child's welfare;
• engage with the child where appropriate;
• usually speak with an older child alone;
• observe babies or young children with a parent or carer where appropriate;
• and potentially speak with teachers, health workers, family members or other relevant people.

What is the Family Court Adviser actually assessing?

Cafcass's Child Impact Assessment Framework starts from a deliberately child-focused question: what is happening for this child?

That is a useful question for a parent to keep in mind throughout the interview.

The assessment is not simply: “Which parent's account do I prefer?”

The professional should be trying to understand the child's lived experience, existing and future risk, strengths and protective factors and what arrangements may support the child's welfare.

Cafcass is looking for impact, not merely allegations

If you tell the FCA that the other parent behaved in a particular way, expect the assessment eventually to move towards:

• what happened;
• how often or over what period;
• the context;
• whether it is ongoing;
• what the child saw, heard, experienced or was otherwise affected by;
• what effect it had on parenting and family functioning;
• what the current risk is;
• and what arrangements would manage that risk.

How should you prepare without sounding rehearsed?

Preparation is useful. Scripting every answer is usually not.

The aim is to make sure you can identify the important facts, dates, evidence, safeguarding issues and practical proposals without becoming lost in the history of the adult relationship.

Start with the documents Cafcass already has

Before the interview, read:

• the C100 application;
• the C1A, if one has been filed;
• the C7 or other response;
• the latest court order;
• any order specifically directing a section 7 or other assessment;
• any earlier Safeguarding Letter or Child Impact Report;
• any relevant findings or admissions already made by the court;
• and any previous Cafcass report that remains relevant.

Prepare a one-page child snapshot

Before thinking about the allegations, make sure you can explain the child.

Build a short chronology — not your entire relationship history

It can help to write down the dates of the genuinely important events before the interview.

For each material event, note:

• the approximate or exact date;
• what happened;
• who was present;
• whether the child was directly or indirectly affected;
• whether there is an objective record;
• and why the event matters now.

Do not send Cafcass an uncontrolled evidence dump

More documents do not automatically make an account stronger.

If the FCA asks for a particular document, provide it appropriately. If you believe important material needs to be considered, identify it clearly and ask how it should be provided.

At the pre-first-hearing stage, Cafcass expressly states that if you want to rely on a statement from somebody who is not a party to the proceedings, that statement should be sent to the court rather than simply submitted to Cafcass.

Domestic abuse, coercive control and safeguarding disclosures

If domestic abuse is relevant, do not minimise it merely because you are trying to appear calm, reasonable or “child-focused”.

Being child-focused includes explaining behaviour that affects the child's safety, emotional welfare or the safety and functioning of the child's primary carer.

Cafcass's domestic-abuse practice guidance directs practitioners to explore the nature, duration and context of domestic abuse and to consider both current and future risk.

Describe behaviour before relying on labels

If you say “coercive control”, be prepared to explain the behaviour that leads you to use that description.

Depending on the case, relevant examples may concern:

• monitoring communications, location or finances;
• isolation from family or support;
• threats or intimidation;
• control of money, transport or access to essentials;
• repeated degradation or humiliation;
• using the child or child arrangements as a means of control;
• stalking or unwanted post-separation contact;
• interference with work, housing or professional support;
• physical or sexual violence;
• or a pattern in which seemingly minor incidents acquire significance when viewed together.

Domestic abuse and harmful conflict are not interchangeable

Cafcass's own CIAF guidance treats domestic abuse and harmful parental conflict as distinct concepts.

Harmful conflict generally concerns damaging conflict for which both adults may carry responsibility. Domestic abuse involves abusive behaviour and cannot safely be reframed simply as mutual communication difficulty.

Cafcass's professional guidance says that where indicators of both are present, domestic abuse should be assessed first so that risk is understood before harmful conflict interventions are considered.

Equally, do not overstate

Accuracy matters.

Distinguish between:

• what you personally witnessed;
• what the child told you;
• what another person told you;
• what a record states;
• what has been alleged;
• what has been admitted;
• and what the Family Court has formally found.

Saying “I do not know” where you genuinely do not know is often more credible than trying to fill an evidential gap.

What should you do during the interview?

You do not need to sound legally sophisticated.

You need to communicate clearly enough for the FCA to understand the child, the issues, the evidence and the arrangement you say is safe and workable.

Keep bringing the discussion back to the child

Do you have to criticise the other parent?

No. But you should not conceal a genuine welfare issue simply to appear cooperative.

Where safe and accurate, it can be helpful to acknowledge:

• positive aspects of the child's relationship with the other parent;
• arrangements that have worked;
• areas on which agreement is possible;
• and protective steps the other parent has taken.

But safeguarding concerns should still be stated clearly where they matter.

Do not coach the child

Do not tell a child what to say to Cafcass or repeatedly question them about what they intend to say.

Cafcass says that where a section 7 assessment takes place it will usually speak with the child separately and will not ask the child to decide their arrangements or choose between their parents.

Your role is to make the child feel safe to speak honestly, including where their wishes differ from your own.

If you need adjustments or additional support

Tell Cafcass or Cafcass Cymru as early as possible if a disability, communication difficulty, language requirement, neurodivergence, literacy difficulty, trauma-related need or other factor affects how you can participate.

The aim should be meaningful engagement, not testing who copes best with an unfamiliar professional interview.

What happens after the interview?

Make a short contemporaneous note for yourself after the discussion.

Record:

• the date and approximate duration;
• who took part;
• the main subjects discussed;
• important safeguarding matters you raised;
• documents the FCA asked you to provide;
• any actions the FCA said they would take;
• and any obvious factual misunderstanding you need to clarify.

What happens after an early safeguarding interview?

Under the traditional CAP route, Cafcass combines the safeguarding checks, information from the parties and its initial analysis into the Safeguarding Letter for the first hearing.

If you later identify a straightforward factual error, Cafcass says factual inaccuracies can be raised with the FCA or their manager.

What happens during a section 7 assessment?

Assessment usually continues after the parent interview.

The FCA may engage with the child and other professionals and analyse the information through the Child Impact Assessment Framework.

Cafcass currently says the FCA should share their thinking and recommendations with the parent and child before the report is filed, so they can understand their views about those proposed recommendations.

That is an important opportunity to listen carefully and identify a material factual misunderstanding — but it should not be treated as an invitation to pressure the FCA until they change their professional opinion.

Key authorities

20 questions to prepare before the interview

Primary sources and official guidance

1. Cafcass — Welcome to Cafcass — current information about the pre-first-hearing interview, privacy, timing and safeguarding focus.
2. Cafcass — Overview of involvement in private-law proceedings — telephone interviews, safeguarding work and first-hearing process.
3. Cafcass — Section 7 Reports — detailed welfare assessment, work with parents, children and other relevant professionals.
4. Cafcass — Child Impact Assessment Framework — assessment framework focused on what is happening for the individual child.
5. Cafcass — Indicators of domestic abuse including coercive control — current professional assessment resources and interview tools.
6. Cafcass — Harmful Conflict — distinguishes conflict harmful to children from domestic abuse.
7. Cafcass — Understanding why a child may resist or refuse family time — current framework for exploring the range of reasons rather than assuming one explanation.
8. Cafcass — Reporting to Court Policy — standards for child-focused, evidentially based analysis and recommendations.
9. Practice Direction 36Z — Child Focused / investigative model — safeguarding checks, parental engagement, child engagement and Child Impact Reports.
10. Cafcass Cymru — Information for parents and carers — current Pathfinder process in Wales, Child Impact Reports and parental and child engagement.
11. Children Act 1989 — section 1 — paramountcy and the welfare checklist.
12. Children Act 1989 — section 7 — court-directed welfare reports.
13. Practice Direction 12J — Domestic Abuse & Harm — domestic abuse, safeguarding, fact-finding and welfare assessment.
14. Re H-N and Others [2021] EWCA Civ 448 — domestic abuse, coercive control and the importance of understanding patterns relevant to welfare.
15. D (Change of Circumstances: Domestic Abuse Allegations) [2026] EWCA Civ 969 — limits of professional assessment where disputed allegations require judicial determination.