Request for Information - How It Looks to Me - Application development

How It Looks To Me Application Development

Description of procurement

Our organisation

The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) was established on 1st April 2001 as part of the government commitment to supporting children and families. It brought together the services previously provided by the Family Court Welfare Service, the Guardian ad Litem services, and the Children’s division of the Official Solicitor’s Office. Cafcass is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice and is a non-departmental public body.

Cafcass is independent of the courts, social services, education and health.

Our remit

Cafcass operate within the law set by Parliament (Criminal Justice and Court Services Act, 2000) and under the rules and directions of the family courts. Their role is to safeguard and promote the welfare of children going through the family justice system by understanding their experiences and speaking up for them when the family court makes critical decisions about their futures.

Family Court Advisors may be asked by the courts to work with children and families then advise the court on what we consider to be in the best interests of children in 3 main areas

• divorce and separation sometimes called ‘private law’, where parents or carers are unable to

agree on arrangements for their children

• care proceeding sometimes called ‘public law’ where children’s services have serious

concerns about the safety or welfare of a child

• adoption, which can be either private or public law

Our requirement

Cafcass intends to seek a specialist provider to re-build/recompile, enhance, support, and commercialise its ‘How It Looks to Me’ application. The application is an interactive tool that Cafcass practitioners use to help communicate with children and young people. The tool has a number of interactive screens which help to capture the thoughts and feelings of children and young people, producing a report once the information is collected. The tool assists practitioners in gaining information about what is important to the child/young person, their family, what they enjoy, what they fear, as well as capturing feedback and anything they would like to communicate to the Judge involved in their case.