The Pathfinder Family Court Pilot Scheme, described as “pioneering”, was launched to reduce delays and to support victims of domestic abuse in the Family Courts.
Ethos of Pathfinder
The ethos of Pathfinder is to seek to resolve problems between parents sooner and place more emphasis on hearing children’s voices, where appropriate, earlier in the process.
The pilot scheme has worked to improve the communication between the Police and Local Authorities/Children Services and the Family Courts.
The Court can now direct disclosure from Agencies which means that, by the time parties actually see the Judge for the first time, there will be a lot more information in front of them and that will enable a Judge to move matters forward in the right direction as they see fit.
This has helped to reduce the adversarial nature of Children Act proceedings.
Impact of Pathfinder upon the average time spent in the court process and expansion
Recently statistics from the Ministry of Justice show that the time taken to move a case through the Family Court system reduced from 29 weeks on average to 18 weeks during the North Wales Pilot Scheme.
It was first launched in 2022 in North Wales and Dorset and in May 2024 it was extended to South East Wales and Birmingham.
In its latest expansion, all Family Courts in Wales will now take on the pilot.
Difference between Pathfinder and the previous process
The Family Court legal process prior to Pathfinder would involve parents expecting to wait weeks or even months to have their first interaction with the Court or the Court’s social work service – CAFCASS Cymru in Wales or CAFCASS in England.
Cases would usually take 6 months or more to conclude and would involve multiple Court hearings.
Under Pathfinder, within a day or two of the application being issued at Court, a Judge or Court Legal Adviser will consider the application and make case management decisions.
Usually, an Officer from CAFCASS Cymru will be ordered to prepare a Child Impact Report that will involve the Officer speaking to both parents and if appropriate the children and any other relevant people such as the children’s school.
Any areas of agreement and disagreement will be identified before recommendations are made to the Court to enable the Court to make informed decisions.
With the new rollout of the Pathfinder Scheme to Courts throughout Wales and to Courts in West Yorkshire together with a £12.5 million funding boost to encourage information sharing between services in children matters, thousands more children will be supported with this latest expansion.
What does this mean for Parents?
The feedback from the Pilot Scheme is that the Pathfinder Scheme, whilst it has proved initially challenging for lawyers, has been very popular with parents going through the family justice system.
It has led to a quicker resolution of matters in a less adversarial manner. There has additionally been improved support for victims of domestic abuse and improved communication between services to reduce the pressure on parents.
Central to all of this has been the focus on the needs and wellbeing of a child or children.
How can we help?
We have experienced solicitors who are specialists when it comes to matters involving children. If you are experiencing difficulties in agreeing arrangements for your children and are considering issuing proceedings then please contact us so that we can provide you with further advice and seek to navigate you through this process.
T: 029 2034 2233
E: [email protected]
Author: David James
Published: 14.02.25