Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure children's wishes are considered by the Family Court during a hearing.

When deciding an issue relating to the upbringing of a child, the child’s welfare must be the court’s paramount consideration. When considering arrangements to be made for a child, the court must have particular regard to a list of factors, including the wishes and feelings of the child, considered in light of the child’s age and level of understanding. Depending on the type of proceedings, the child may automatically be a party to the case or may be made a party by the court if it is in their best interests to do so.

In most proceedings relating to a child, it is part of the role of Cafcass, or Cafcass Cymru, to engage with children to establish their wishes and communicate these to the court. Cafcass and Cafcass Cymru officers can use various methods to ensure children can make their feelings and wishes clear to the court in their own words and will submit their own analysis of the evidence to the court.

The Government is exploring how to enhance the voice of the child in private family law proceedings to ensure children’s wishes and views are central to proceedings concerning them via the Pathfinder pilot currently in place in Dorset, North Wales, Birmingham and South-East Wales. As part of the evaluation of the pilots we are working with partners and stakeholders to assess methods of child engagement and understand more about the voice of the child in the initial pilot sites of Dorset and North Wales. We expect the findings of this to be published in Spring 2025.