What is a Section 7 Report?

A Section 7 Interview and Section 7 Report refers to Section 7 of the Children Act 1989 and gives the Court the power to request that a Court Officer (Cafcass, a Welsh Family Proceedings Officer, or a Local Authority Social Services) to report to the court on matters relating to the welfare of the child or children. The court will specify exactly what they want to report to cover, although this could be as broad as "the wishes and feelings of the child/children". The report will also contain all the relevant background information, key facts and evidence that the needs of the child have been considered in accordance with the Welfare Checklist.

How Long does a Section 7 take?

The Section 7 report can take around 12-16 weeks to complete, although the majority of this time is spent with the Cafcass Officer waiting for the police checks to be completed and

although a lot of this time is spent with the officer just waiting for police checks to be done and information to be gathered. Normally a few weeks before the report is due (and you are due back at court), the Section 7 interviews will take place and the Section 7 report will be written.

A Section 7 Interview doesn't have a fixed length of time, but the clients we have worked with have reported the interviews taking around an hour on average.

What happens in a Section 7 Interview?

Normally Cafcass or Social services will interview you, interview the other parent/party, and interview the child/children depending on their age and level of understanding. If they interview the children then this will normally take place in a neutral venue that is not either parent's house - possibly at their school.

They will have some questions to ask you and some space for a free-flowing discussion. You have the opportunity to ask questions as well and to ask the the person their expert opinion on how to work better with your ex-partner or how to co-parent the child in a more child-centric way.

What should I say in a Section 7 Interview?

Be honest, be child-centric, and don't use the interview as a counselling session or as an opportunity to say negative things about your ex-partner. Make sure you have prepared any documents and information in your folder that you may want to refer to, but remember that the Officer is not going to want to read hundreds of pages of emails and text messages - they want to get to know you and to work out if you have the child's best interests at heart.

Our suggestions for working with the officer include:

1. Plan what you want to say prior to your interview. You can do this by making a list of all the things you think are important to discuss.
   
2. Prepare yourself for the officer to ask you questions about what the other party has said. It is important that you keep calm and answer their questions openly and honestly.
   
3. Focus on your child and their needs.
   
4. Think about what you are asking the court to do before your interview so that you can explain your proposals clearly to the officer. It will be difficult for the officer to consider your proposals if they don't understand what you are asking for.
   
5. If you have concerns about your children in the care of the other parent, or the other parent's behaviour, think about how this impacts upon your children so that you can explain this to the officer. For example, you could say "I am concerned about this because it impacts upon our child in this way'. You could also discuss how the concerns make your child feel and any practical problems that this causes for the child and yourself. It may also be helpful to think of solutions to the problem that the court can help with.

What happens next?

The Section 7 Report will be written up and then a copy will be sent to all parties involved in the court case and to the court itself. If any part of the report is challenged successfully (see below), then a second updated version will be sent to all parties again.

We always tell our clients that receiving a Section 7 report can be a scary event and you may feel anxious about what it might say  Make sure that you have appropriate support that you can call on should you need it such as friends, family, your mentor or counsellor.

The most important part of the report is the recommendations which are normally at the end of the report. We recommend skipping straight to the end to read the recommendations before going back through the report to see how the officer has come to that conclusion. Sometimes, it's not nice to read the main report if your ex-partner has said hurtful things about you. The important thing to remember is to focus on those recommendations at the end and think about whether you agree that they are in the best interests of the child, even if you don't agree with them completely.

You may be asked to complete a position statement ahead of your next hearing setting out whether you agree with the recommendations. This is not always the case therefore it is important that you check the directions in your most recent order. 

Next, when you return to court for the next hearing, the Judge will have read the report and recommendations and they will normally ask you and the other party whether you will now agree to implement those recommendations (if the Judge agrees).

If you can reach an agreement to implement the recommendations then the Judge will make a Court Order that formalises that agreement. If you can't decide then the Judge will either decide for you and make the order, or you may need to return for another court hearing (which could be in 3 months time).

Will the Court agree with the Cafcass report?

Cafcass data from 2012 shows that in cases where the family court makes a final ruling, Cafcass recommendations are enforced 76.4% of the time. In a further 14.3% of cases they are enforced subject to court review. Cafcass recommendations are not enforced in only 3.6% of cases

Can a Section 7 Report be challenged?

If there are factual errors in the report then you should challenge this with the report author as soon as you receive it. They can then consider your challenges to the report and decide whether to make changes to the report and reissue an updated version.

If it is simply that you disagree with the conclusions of the report then you will need to let the Judge know so that they can take into consideration your concerns before they make any decisions.