Analysis of aggregated patterns and trends of fathers in care proceedings in England, and their risk of re-entering a second set of care proceedings

At the first stage, we propose to analyse data extracted from the Cafcass Cafe Management System to identify aggregated patterns and trends of fathers in proceedings and their rate of recurrence on a national scale over a 10-year observational window. This information will allow us to identify the national rate of recurrence in fathers, and explain how this rate changes given the type of father, their age at the start of proceedings, and the roles and ages of other adult parties (i.e. the mother), age of the children involved, timing of the case regarding pre-and post-policy changes.

In this stage, we will address the following research questions:

• What is the prevalence and profile of ‘recurrent fathers’ and ‘recurrent couples’ within care proceedings nationally? (biological, step fathers; is or is not party to the case; multiple fathers attached to a case; age profiles, number of children)
• How have the number of fathers and their profiles changed over time?
• How do regions vary in relation to the number of fathers, proportion of recurrence, and their profiles, over the 10-year observational window?
• Are there differences in case legal outcomes for children between fathers’ first and recurrent care proceedings?