Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the amendments, especially that of my noble friends and the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. The noble Baroness mentioned the HMICA report, which has been mentioned several times in our deliberations today. Noble Lords will know that CAFCASS takes very seriously the recommendations in that report and has already implemented many of them, including producing its excellent toolkit, which I hope has been seen by many noble Lords throughout the House. If not, I can certainly provide them with copies. CAFCASS is concerned about resources, but that does not in any way diminish our enthusiasm for taking on the role of risk assessment. We believe that it will help to focus our practice when under great pressure to broker agreements between warring parents. Sometimes the drive to reach an agreement about contact can mask underlying child protection concerns; at the moment, we have an inadequate statutory base for exploring those concerns. Making risk assessment mandatory will be an alert not just for CAFCASS practitioners but for those agencies from which we ask checks—courts and judges and all agencies in the family justice system. We should never forget that everybody has a responsibility for making sure that contact is safe. I am very glad to say that there is a clear consensus among all groups concerned for children to ensure that contact is safe, and that with all cases in which we are alerted to concerns, invariably in a court application by one party, we must carry out a formal risk assessment. We have clear procedures for that, and the amendment will lead directly to the protection of many children who are at the moment subject to an ambiguous legal framework. I share the concerns that have been raised about how necessary it is to have adequate training, with the right level of staff. No doubt we shall come to that when discussing another amendment later tonight.