Family Court Pathfinder: Independent Specialist Domestic Abuse Advocacy Support Service

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, His Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service and Cafcass) are seeking a delivery partner for a new service that is supporting the Government's commitment to pilot a reformed approach to child arrangement proceedings. The new service is aligned to the Police and Crime Commissioner's (PCC) commitments in her Police and Crime Plan to continue to work in partnership to help protect women and girls from all forms of abuse and to commission services to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG) and support victims/survivors, including victims/survivors of domestic abuse, sexual crimes and stalking. In June 2020, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published the 'Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases' Report (The Harm Panel Report) which called for widespread reforms to the Family Court system. It heard evidence that many domestic abuse victim-survivors were being re-traumatised by the current 'adversarial' system. One of the report's recommendations was for the Family Court to better support domestic abuse victim-survivors by linking with local domestic abuse service providers to provide independent and specialist domestic abuse advocacy/support and risk assessment services, with their independence from the court being a key factor. In response to this report, the then Government committed to pilot a reformed approach to child arrangement proceedings in February 2022 in the form of the 'Family Court Pathfinder Pilots', to test a less adversarial and more investigative approach to managing private family law cases. Through this model, the court aims to identify families' needs earlier and work with both adults and children, as well as external agencies such as Local Authorities, the Police, and education settings, to better understand families' circumstances and help them reach a safe agreement without the need for multiple hearings. Importantly, Pathfinder also brings in domestic abuse support services to work alongside HMCTS and Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru to provide crucial support to children and families at an earlier point in proceedings. Pathfinder's core service requires that the domestic abuse service providers undertake Domestic Abuse, Stalking, Harassment and 'Honour-Based' Violence (DASH) assessments with victim-survivors referred to them by Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru and provide in-court independent specialist advocacy and support to those who need it. The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner is seeking a delivery partner to support the provision of independent and specialist Domestic Abuse advocacy and support within Designated Family Judge areas across Hampshire and Isle of Wight in relation to private law proceedings. While the initial contract period is 1st December 2025 - 31st March 2026 it will have the potential to be extended for a period or periods of up to 3 years subject to future Government funding and policy decision.