Identifying Risk Is Only the Beginning: Lessons from the UK’s Family Courts

At the 21st National Family Law Conference in Hobart we heard from the Honourable Sir Andrew McFarlane (Past President of the Family Division of the High Court of Justice) about how England and Wales is changing the way its family courts deal with parenting disputes, particularly where family violence or other safeguarding concerns are raised.

The reform began as the Pathfinder pilot in 2022 and, in March 2026, was renamed the Child Focused Court model as part of its national expansion. Its objective is straightforward: identify risk earlier, reduce unnecessarily adversarial proceedings and place the child's safety, welfare and experience closer to the centre of decision-making.

What is different about the UK model?

A key feature is the Child Impact Report, prepared by CAFCASS or the relevant local authority. It is designed to give the court an early understanding of how the dispute is affecting the child and what their safety and welfare require. The UK judiciary has identified this early, child-focused information as a central feature of the new model.

The broader approach is more investigative and problem-solving, with information gathered earlier rather than emerging through multiple adversarial hearings.

What happens in Australia?

Australia already has important early risk-screening mechanisms.

Under Lighthouse, eligible parties can complete the confidential Family DOORS Triage risk screen when proceedings commence. A specialist team assesses identified risks and determines appropriate case management. Matters involving particularly high levels of risk may be considered for the Evatt List, which focuses on early information gathering and intervention.

Family violence is also central to the statutory best-interests test. Section 60CC of the Family Law Act 1975 requires the court to consider arrangements that promote the safety of children and their carers, including safety from family violence, abuse, neglect and other harm.

So what is the difference?

The distinction is subtle but important. Australia uses early risk screening primarily to identify safety concerns and inform triage and case management. The UK model seeks to place early, independent information about the child's experience before the decision-maker.

Family DOORS responses are confidential and inadmissible and are not available to judicial officers or the parties' lawyers. The UK's Child Impact Report, by contrast, is expressly intended to give the court an early understanding of how the dispute is affecting the child.

That distinction is particularly interesting in matters involving coercive and controlling behaviour, where risk may arise from a pattern of conduct and its cumulative effect on the family rather than from a single incident.

A reform worth watching

The UK experience does not suggest that Australia is failing to identify family violence early. Lighthouse and the Evatt List demonstrate that early screening and specialist management of risk are already embedded within the Australian system.

But the UK reforms raise a further question: Is identifying risk early enough, or should Australian courts also have a more consistent way of understanding the child's lived experience of that risk at the beginning of proceedings?

That is what makes the Child Focused Court model worth watching as its national rollout continues.

This article provides general information about family law developments in Australia and England and Wales. It is not legal advice.