Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

I thank the Minister for his reply. I also thank all noble Lords who have taken part in the debate. We are not by any means saying that the amendments are perfect. As the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, said, we may have to reconsider them. There is no perfect system, and there never will be when it is a case of people looking after other people, particularly where trauma is involved. However, if the Government considered what was happening around the world, they would see that other jurisdictions have taken their family law systems by the scruff of the neck and have dragged them into the 21st century. In Canada, Australia and most of the states in America, many of the amendments that we have discussed are now on the statute book. People will ask whether research has been done on those systems and whether they work. However, they seem to work very well in practice in many of those places. The Minister talked about some of the early interventions, which we will come to later, including talking to people and mediation before a case comes to court. I want to ask him a question now because I may forget to do so when we come to a later amendment. Family Resolutions was rolled out with a fanfare that it would be a marvellous way of getting people together. Actually, it has cost a lot of money and has not involved many people. I do not hold CAFCASS responsible for that for one moment. CAFCASS was born at a difficult time; it was thrown together, under-resourced and overstretched. Any body would find it difficult to do all that was asked of it in such circumstances. We hear rumours, so I want to ask the Minister whether the Family Resolutions pilot is still in existence.