Transforming Communication for Better Child and Family Support with Cafcass

The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), is an organisation that represents the interests of children and young people in family court proceedings in England.

They sought an innovative solution to transform their communication strategies. To revolutionise how Cafcass generates and personalises content, particularly letters, to better serve their diverse individuals, including children and young adults.

Challenge

Cafcass faced hurdles in ensuring clear, effective communication with children and families in family court cases. Their existing system, ChildFirst, had technical limitations that restricted Family Court Advisors (FCAs) from fully utilising stored data, forcing them to manually edit templates—an inefficient, time-consuming process. With 1,500 FCAs generating 80,000 letters monthly across 100+ templates, this diverted time from their core duty: supporting families.

Standardised letters sometimes lacked clarity, particularly for children, leading to potential misunderstandings and disengagement. This could especially impact neurodiverse children, those with accessibility needs, and families with language barriers, who might struggle to access or comprehend critical information. FCAs also had no tools to adjust language complexity based on a child’s comprehension level, further complicating communication and restricting engagement.

If these challenges were not addressed, there was potential for several negative consequences:

FCAs would continue to spend a significant amount of time on manual tasks, limiting focus on core responsibilities and supporting children and families effectively

Communication would remain limited and inaccessible for many children and families

Inefficient data utilisation would persist, reducing the effectiveness of personalised communication

Solution

To help resolve these issues, longstanding partners Cafcass and Version 1 collaborated on a proof of concept (PoC) – Scribe – exploring the use of Microsoft Azure artificial intelligence (AI) services within ChildFirst. This PoC demonstrated how AI could streamline letter generation, enhance data utilisation, and improve communication quality with children and families.

The Cafcass brief was clear: this would not be AI writing to children, rather AI providing essential time-saving assistance to the FCAs writing those letters.

Key Features

Enhanced personalisation

Utilises advanced algorithms to customise letters based on each child’s profile, including preferred names and developmental stage, integrating manual case notes for more meaningful and relevant communications

Improved efficiency

Assisting with hyper personalisation of letters, Scribe reduces manual workload, allowing FCAs to focus on supporting families instead of repetitive tasks

Increased accessibility

Features like language translation and audio file generation ensure inclusivity for children with disabilities, neurodiverse conditions, or language barriers. Scribe also offers the tailoring of language complexity to match a child’s reading age, making letters clearer and easier to understand

Seamless integration

Scribe is embedded within ChildFirst, maintaining familiar workflows for FCAs

Security and compliance

Leveraging Microsoft Azure’s security features ensures data privacy and compliance with evolving AI governance standards

“Version 1, with their expertise in our case management system and world of AI and innovation, was a natural place to go. This is a great example of using AI in a responsible, safe way with human safeguards in place every step of the way.”
Rob Langley, CIO, Cafcass

Scribe has successfully implemented hyper-personalised letters, adaptable language, multilingual support, and text-to-speech audio files, laying the foundation for enhanced personalisation and engagement. This innovation transforms communication within Cafcass, ensuring that every child receives content that is tailored, accessible, and engaging.

By integrating AI, Cafcass significantly improves engagement, inclusivity, and satisfaction, ultimately enhancing the support provided to children and families navigating family court cases.

Outcomes

Leveraging AI, Scribe improves clarity, inclusivity, accessibility and efficiency; reducing the manual workload for FCAs while enhancing the experience for children and families navigating family court cases.

Key Benefits

Personalised communication

Strengthens connections by tailoring letters to each child’s age, reading level, and preferences, ensuring children understand the information

Greater engagement

Simplifies communication, making it clear and age-appropriate, reducing confusion and improving engagement

Better use of data

Scribe pulls key information from ChildFirst, ensuring letters are accurate, relevant, and personalised to each child’s needs

Customer satisfaction

More inclusive, tailored communication improves trust and understanding, leading to better outcomes for children and families

Compliance and security

Built-in AI governance measures protect privacy and rights, ensuring all communication is safe and compliant

Scribe ensures that every child, regardless of ability or background, receives communication that is clear, accessible, and meaningful. It enhances engagement, efficiency, and support, reinforcing Cafcass’s commitment to putting children first in every interaction.