Section 7 Report

Gap #58

The assumption

The Section 7 report will decide who the child lives with.

The reality

A Section 7 report offers CAFCASS's assessment of family dynamics and risk, informed by observations and interviews, and is one piece of evidence for the judge alongside everything else. Courts are not bound by CAFCASS's recommendation, even where CAFCASS has given a clear, reasoned view. A judge can depart from it in either direction, including allowing more contact than CAFCASS recommended, but only where there is a proper evidential basis for doing so. A strong report can be persuasive. It does not guarantee the outcome CAFCASS suggests.

Re D (Change of Circumstances: Domestic Abuse Allegations) 2026

A second appeal concerning a child arrangements order for a young child, D. The Court of Appeal found the original judge's decision — that D should live with her mother — was fundamentally flawed because the judge had implicitly adopted findings of domestic abuse from a Cafcass officer's report without holding a fact-finding hearing, and because the Cafcass report itself failed to properly assess the impact of changing D's home and school. The order was set aside and the matter sent for a full rehearing.