When separating parents cannot agree how to share the care of their children following the breakdown of a relationship, they are often forced to approach the courts for judicial assistance. This process can become extremely stressful, and lengthy, for parents and children, particularly where there has been domestic violence, or the parents are already involved in concurrent divorce and financial remedy proceedings.

These proceedings generally involve a number of court hearings (usually at least three), with certain information to be obtained to prepare for the ‘Final Hearing’, at which a final order will be imposed on parents if an agreement cannot be reached sooner.

Unfortunately, as a result of court backlogs and recent lack of funding, statistics from the Ministry of Justice show that the average time taken for a case to reach Final Hearing is 29 weeks (almost 7 months). This has significant emotional, financial and other implications, and often, the parents’ relationship further deteriorates the longer the proceedings go on, and the more (sometimes hostile) court hearings they have to attend.

In an attempt to resolve the issues above, a pilot, the ‘Pathfinder Model’ was launched in 2022. It was rolled out to all new private children law cases in Birmingham and South-East Wales in May 2024. Its purpose was to reduce delays and to make private children proceedings less adversarial and more focussed on solving problems. The key aims were to ensure the voice of any child was heard early on; to reduce trauma to victims of domestic abuse as far as possible; and to better streamline current proceedings.

Cases on this pilot scheme underwent the following process:

1. An initial safeguarding, gatekeeping and case management review

Within 1 or 2 days of the application being made, there is a review to ensure there were no safeguarding concerns or allegations of domestic violence. If any concerns were highlighted, the case would be fast-tracked to an urgent hearing where the court would decide how those concerns and allegations should be dealt with. This is a vast improvement to the previous position, where parents could be waiting for months before having any contact with the court or CAFCASS.

2. Information gathering and assessment

The majority of information required for the court to make a final decision must be gathered before the first hearing as opposed to during the proceedings. In order to do this, the court have created a new key document, the ‘Child Impact Report’ which sets out information which is required by the court to move the case forwards. It replaces CAFCASS’ safeguarding letter and is much more detailed. It will include a summary of information gathered from the police, the Local Authority and domestic abuse agencies, in a similar way to the safeguarding letter, but the key difference is that children will have the opportunity to be seen and heard at this early stage. Recommendations and details of possible interventions based on the child’s wishes and feelings would also be included, which are not usually ascertained until much later in the proceedings.

3. Intervention/Decision Hearings

Following receipt of the Child Impact Report, the court will set out the next steps. This could include family counselling or attempting non-court dispute resolution. The court, when using the Pathfinder Model, places particular emphasis on hearings being used to made decisions, which progress cases, rather than using hearings to simply case manage, direct further information to be provided or deal with administrative points. This results in hearings, and court time, being used effectively and efficiently, with parties avoiding the costs of attending hearings for administrative purposes only. The intention is that a final decision will be made at the first hearing wherever possible.

4. Review

The court will review the final order between 3-12 months after it is made to consider how it is working for the family. This is not an enforcement hearing or to ensure compliance, but to assess whether the children’s welfare needs are being met in practice. There is currently no ‘check-up’ like this in private children proceedings, and many orders become a point of further dispute between the parents. Enabling the court to identify and resolve any issues within several months of the Final Hearing will hopefully avoid secondary proceedings in many of these cases.

The Impact

So far, the Pathfinder Model has resulted in fewer delays, and risks being identified and managed much earlier. Judges are able to resolve straightforward or non-complex cases much more quickly, and according to the Ministry of Justice, the pilot has led to cases being completed within 18 weeks (just over 4 months), and has halved the number of cases waiting to be heard. Whilst still in the early stages, the Pathfinder Model has shown that it is working well for families, and as a result, will be extended to all courts in Wales in March 2025, and West Yorkshire from June 2025.

If the Pathfinder Model continues to be rolled out across England, and assists the courts to reduce delays and resolve cases more quickly for families, it could improve the process significantly for many families and children.