19. Preparing for first hearings (FHDRA)

What is the FHDRA actually for?

FHDRA stands for First Hearing Dispute Resolution Appointment.

Under Practice Direction 12B, its purpose includes helping the parties understand the issues dividing them, exploring whether any part of the dispute can safely be resolved and identifying what must happen next where agreement is not possible.

Safeguarding remains central throughout.

When should it happen?

Under the current CAP timetable, the FHDRA should ordinarily take place during week 5 after issue, and at the latest during week 6, unless the circumstances require an earlier hearing.

The March 2026 Allocation and Gatekeeping Guidance also provides that, in CAP cases outside Child Focused Courts, Cafcass safeguarding material is ordinarily directed at gatekeeping before the case is listed for FHDRA.

The FHDRA is not privileged

PD12B expressly states that an FHDRA is not privileged.

That means things said during the hearing may be referred to later in the proceedings.

What documents should be available before the FHDRA?

Under PD12B, the court should ordinarily have:

• the C100 application;
• any applicant C1A;
• the Notice of Hearing;
• the respondent's C7;
• any respondent C1A;
• and the Cafcass safeguarding letter or report.

Read the Safeguarding Letter carefully

Identify:

• the outcome of police checks;
• the outcome of local-authority checks;
• what Cafcass records you as saying;
• what Cafcass records the other party as saying;
• what is allegation and what is objectively established;
• the immediate risk assessment;
• and what Cafcass advises the court should do next.

What if the safeguarding checks are missing?

PD12B and PD12J both impose safeguards where the necessary Cafcass information is unavailable.

Where safeguarding checks have not been completed and there is no other reliable safeguarding information, the court should ordinarily adjourn rather than make substantive interim child-arrangements decisions, unless an order is required to protect the child's safety.

Do you need a position statement?

There is no universal rule that every litigant in person must file a position statement for every FHDRA.

Check the court order and any local directions.

Where permitted or required, a concise position statement can be extremely useful, particularly where there are:

• domestic-abuse allegations;
• a disputed interim-contact position;
• important factual corrections to safeguarding material;
• a request for section 7 work;
• a dispute about whether fact-finding is necessary;
• a need for police, social-care, school or health disclosure;
• participation or vulnerability issues;
• or several directions the court needs to consider.

The 2026 court-bundle rules

Practice Direction 27A was substantially revised from 2 March 2026.

The important practical rule is: the hearing bundle should contain only material that is relevant and necessary for that hearing.

Do not automatically put hundreds of screenshots, WhatsApp messages, photographs, voice-note transcripts or whole agency files into a bundle.

If a specific document is necessary for the court to read or will actually be referred to, it may be included in accordance with the applicable directions.

What can the court actually do at the FHDRA?

The court's powers depend on the issues and evidence before it.

Possible outcomes include:

Agreement is subject to court scrutiny

Even if both parents agree, the Family Court does not have to rubber-stamp the proposal.

The court must consider whether the agreement is consistent with the child's welfare.

Where safeguarding work remains outstanding, PD12B permits the court to delay making a final order while the remaining risk work is completed.

Should there be a fact-finding hearing?

A fact-finding hearing is not automatic simply because allegations are denied.

The court should identify:

• what factual allegations are disputed;
• which of those allegations are relevant to welfare;
• whether determining them is necessary for risk assessment;
• whether the final child-arrangements decision depends upon them;
• and whether a separate fact-finding hearing is necessary and proportionate.

What should a section 7 direction cover?

If the court needs further welfare assessment, the direction should identify the questions that require professional analysis.

Depending on the case, these might concern:

• where the child should live;
• the nature and progression of family time;
• the child's wishes and feelings;
• domestic-abuse findings and risk;
• a child's resistance or refusal of contact;
• schooling;
• parenting capacity;
• sibling relationships;
• specific safeguarding issues;
• or the practical effect of competing proposed arrangements.

How should a litigant in person prepare?

Your preparation should help you answer five things clearly:

Prepare an issue list

Reduce the dispute to a small number of identifiable issues.

For example:

• where the child should live;
• whether direct contact should restart;
• whether overnight contact is safe;
• whether domestic-abuse allegations require findings;
• whether school information is required;
• whether Cafcass should undertake a section 7 assessment;
• and what interim arrangement should operate meanwhile.

Prepare a short chronology

A chronology can be useful where dates matter, but it should be concise.

Include only events that help the court understand:

• the child's current arrangements;
• when contact changed or stopped;
• key safeguarding incidents;
• important professional involvement;
• previous court orders;
• and significant changes since the application.

Prepare your proposed orders and directions

Do not prepare only to oppose what the other party wants.

Know what you ask the court to do.

A practical FHDRA position statement structure

Do not file your entire phone

Hundreds of messages usually make the important evidence harder to find.

If three messages demonstrate the relevant point, identify those three messages and explain what each one proves.

The revised PD27A reflects this principle: bundles should contain only documents relevant and necessary for the hearing.

Domestic abuse, interim safety and participation

Where domestic abuse is raised as relevant to the child's welfare, PD12J requires the court specifically at the FHDRA to address it.

The court must identify:

• whether domestic abuse is raised;
• the nature of the allegation, admission or evidence;
• whether the child or parent may be at risk of harm;
• what disputed factual issues exist;
• and what case-management or safeguarding directions are required.

Interim contact where allegations remain unresolved

Where domestic-abuse allegations remain undetermined, PD12J requires particular care before an interim Child Arrangements Order is made.

The court should consider whether the proposed arrangement:

• is in the child's interests;
• exposes the child or other parent to an unmanageable risk of harm;
• requires supervision or support;
• requires a safer handover mechanism;
• could operate indirectly pending further evidence;
• or should not proceed until risk has been assessed further.

Participation directions

Part 3A FPR requires the court to consider whether vulnerability may diminish a party's ability to participate or give evidence effectively.

Where it is stated that a party or witness is, or is at risk of being, a victim of domestic abuse by another party or relevant person, rule 3A.2A creates an assumption that participation and/or quality of evidence may be diminished unless the person asks for that assumption not to apply.

Depending on the case, participation measures may include practical arrangements concerning:

• separate waiting areas;
• screens;
• remote participation;
• entry and exit arrangements;
• communication assistance;
• breaks;
• or other measures appropriate to the person's circumstances.

IDVA or ISVA support

Practice Direction 27C provides that a party receiving support from an Independent Domestic Violence Adviser or Independent Sexual Violence Adviser may receive that support at the hearing, subject to the court's power to direct otherwise.

McKenzie Friend support

PD12B expressly recognises that a litigant in person may be accompanied at an FHDRA by a McKenzie Friend in accordance with the applicable Practice Guidance.

A McKenzie Friend may ordinarily:

• provide moral support;
• take notes;
• help organise papers;
• and quietly advise the litigant.

A McKenzie Friend does not automatically have a right to address the court or conduct litigation on the person's behalf.

On the day: what to say, what to avoid and what happens afterwards

Check the hearing format

Your hearing notice should state whether attendance is:

• in person;
• by video;
• by telephone;
• or under another arrangement directed by the court.

Do not assume the hearing is remote because an earlier hearing was remote, or vice versa.

Have six things immediately available

1. the hearing notice;
2. the latest court order;
3. your application or response;
4. the Cafcass Safeguarding Letter or other current report;
5. your concise position statement or hearing note, where appropriate;
6. and a written list of the orders or directions you seek.

How to speak when the judge asks for your position

A useful structure is:

Common mistakes at an FHDRA

• trying to tell the entire relationship history;
• interrupting the judge or other party repeatedly;
• treating the Safeguarding Letter as a final judgment;
• asking for every possible disclosure direction “just in case”;
• demanding fact-finding without explaining why the disputed facts matter to welfare;
• asking for a generic section 7 report without identifying the welfare questions;
• bringing hundreds of messages but being unable to identify the three that matter;
• focusing entirely on proving the other parent is a bad person;
• failing to state what interim order you actually seek;
• agreeing to an arrangement you believe is unsafe simply because you feel pressured to compromise;
• or leaving court without understanding the directions and deadlines that have been made.

What happens after the hearing?

Before leaving court — or immediately after a remote hearing — make a short note of:

• the interim arrangement ordered;
• every document you must file;
• every deadline;
• who is responsible for obtaining disclosure;
• what Cafcass or another professional has been directed to do;
• the purpose of the next hearing;
• the next hearing date if known;
• and whether a draft or sealed order is to follow.

When the sealed order arrives, compare it carefully with what you understood the judge to have ordered.

Key authorities and procedural guidance

20 questions to answer before your FHDRA

Primary sources and official guidance

1. Practice Direction 12B — Child Arrangements Programme — FHDRA timing, safeguarding, conciliation, case management and next steps.
2. Practice Direction 12J — Domestic Abuse & Harm — safeguarding and domestic-abuse duties at the first hearing.
3. Allocation & Gatekeeping Guidance — March 2026 — current allocation and safeguarding approach for CAP cases.
4. Family Procedure Rules — Part 3A — vulnerability and participation directions.
5. Practice Direction 27C — attendance and support from IDVAs and ISVAs.
6. Practice Direction 27A — Family Proceedings: Court Bundles — revised 2026 bundle preparation, content and filing requirements.
7. Practice Guidance: McKenzie Friends — reasonable lay assistance for litigants in person.
8. Cafcass — What happens in private-law proceedings — overview of FHDRA and subsequent welfare assessment.
9. Cafcass — Child Focused Courts — current national reform and transition away from the traditional CAP model.
10. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary — Child Focused Court rollout — current model and rollout information.
11. K v K [2022] EWCA Civ 468 — necessity and proportionality of fact-finding.
12. Re H-N and Others [2021] EWCA Civ 448 — domestic abuse and fact-finding.
13. D [2026] EWCA Civ 969 — later reconsideration where disputed allegations become material to welfare assessment.