Victoria Warden
Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Kingston and Richmond (Achieving for Children), Lambeth, Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth, led by the London Borough of Merton, commissioned the expansion of the London FDAC service in January 2018. This means that families in these nine boroughs will now have the option of being referred to Central London Family Court, Croydon Family Court, and West London Family Court so their case can proceed through FDAC.
Over the past 15 months, the London FDAC team have developed working partnerships with relevant agencies within each of the 9 boroughs and 3 London family courts and have recently moved their office base to Clapham Junction to allow for easier accessibility for all of the families and services. This means that 60 families a year across London will have access to our collaborative problem solving approach.
Alongside this, we continue to build our expertise in Trauma Informed Approaches, recognising the role that early developmental trauma plays in substance misuse, mental health problems and parenting breakdown. Video interaction guidance continues to be a key part of our work with parents, providing them with the opportunity to rebuild and grow their relationships with their children. Future developments will be focused on ensuring children are supported beyond the end of proceedings, once again using Trauma Informed Principles to help family and professional networks respond to their unique needs.
Information about the Centre's work on family justice can be found here. For regular updates sign up to our family justice bulletin mailing list here.