Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

The core of the matter is that this is an extremely difficult part of the Bill and it will be difficult when it reaches the courts. The officers will find it complex to get the reports right—but that is nothing new for CAFCASS officers. They have to operate at the present time and make reports in such contentious situations. The noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley, and I, in our positions in CAFCASS, have been lobbied by the judiciary which needs extra powers in those most difficult circumstances. We are talking about only a few cases, not huge numbers, when the judges have struggled to ensure that a parent has proper access to a child, when they have been frustrated and when there are only two alternatives: one is to change the residence—and that has happened occasionally, when justices have decided to offer the residence to the other parent—or to send the parent to prison. That is pretty radical. At least here we have some attempt to give a range of options before that fundamental position is reached. That is why—despite recognising the difficulties and all the debate that there will be in terms of there being a much more legalistic position, due to the criminal aspect of the findings—I support the clause.