Family Justice
Mutual Ventures has experience across the family justice system having delivered several national programmes in the last few years including the national roll-out of a financial modelling tool to understand the financial impact of care proceedings delays on children’s services across the country, the DFJ Trailblazers Pilot Programme, and the National Learning Support Programme.
Following the success of the DFJ Trailblazer Pilot Programme, the Department for Education (DfE) commissioned Mutual Ventures to deliver a National Learning Support workstream to support the ongoing learning and dissemination of insights from the programme to DFJ areas across England. This work focused on supporting local partners to develop local approaches and solutions aimed at tackling the key drivers of delay in their family court.
Alongside this, the Mutual Ventures team were commissioned by the DfE to deliver the System Functionality workstream. This workstream focused on conducting an evidence review of the public law family justice system (and initiatives to improve it) to lay the groundwork for central government to develop a new National Family Justice Strategy. This work built upon the initial research completed as part of the pilot programme.
On this page, you will find access to a comprehensive selection of resources that support practitioners working within family justice. This includes reports, videos, webinars, and templates.
Good Practice Guide
Examples of good practice in care proceedings across England
In 2024, we published a quarterly Good Practice Guide to place a spotlight on initiatives demonstrating good outcomes in care proceedings across England.
Now fully updated to reflect the latest work from the National Learning Support Programme, we have combined the previous five versions into a comprehensive guide with additional initiatives included. The document includes innovative ideas and important considerations to execute standard practices effectively.
Featured initiatives are grouped across the following themes: workforce development, court processes, collaborative and system-wide approaches, approaches to pre-proceedings and family and community support.
Early Adopters Toolkit
This document shares learning for local areas to develop and deliver their own change initiatives.
This toolkit distils the evidence-based methodologies from the five DFJ Trailblazer areas to provide LFJBs with a practical blueprint to support them to address their local drivers of delay.
This toolkit is designed to support local areas to implement change by drawing on the experiences and insights from the Trailblazers pilot, which aimed to reduce delays in the Family Justice system by helping local areas identify challenges, design targeted solutions, and implement improvements.
The toolkit shares an overview of the Trailblazers journey with a focus on sharing the key takeaways for other areas and a detailed look at the Trailblazers interventions and what other areas can learn from them.
Thematic Reports
Through the National Learning Support Programme and monthly Community of Practice sessions we have explored drivers of delays in care proceedings, exploring the key themes that local family justice systems face across England.
As part of this work, we have collated a series of summary briefings on some of the key topics we have explored. These briefings aim to reflect approaches to key challenges across areas and are intended to support local discussions.
We are pleased to share five briefings in this series. We hope you find the briefings useful in informing local practice and supporting continued reflection and learning.
Late Presentation of Family Members
This brief brings together reflections, challenges and approaches shared by colleagues across DFJ areas in England, in relation to the late presentation of family members in care proceedings.
Drawing on discussions from our work with individual DFJ areas through the National Learning Support programme and through group discussions through Communities of Practice, it explores why late presentation occurs and how different areas are seeking to address it.
The document is intended to support local reflection and discussion, rather than to prescribe solutions, and includes practical examples, case study material and reflective questions to help areas consider what might be relevant to their own context.
Use of Experts
This learning brief brings together reflections, challenges and approaches shared by colleagues across DFJ areas in England in relation to the use of expert assessments in care proceedings.
Drawing on discussions from our work with individual DFJ areas through the National Learning Support programme, alongside insights from Communities of Practice, it explores the factors influencing when and why experts are commissioned, the impact on timeliness and quality, and the tensions that can arise around trust, necessity and decision-making.
This brief considers both the drivers of expert instruction and summarises the practical steps areas are taking to ensure assessments are necessary, high quality, and add value to proceedings. It is intended to support local reflection and dialogue, rather than to prescribe solutions, including practical examples, case study material and reflective questions to help areas consider how their current approach to expert use is operating currently, and what changes may be appropriate within their own context.
Approaches to Court Listings
This learning brief brings together insights from DFJ areas across England on different approaches to court listing in public law family cases.
Drawing on learning from the Trailblazer and National Learning Support programmes, it outlines a range of listing models currently in use and the factors shaping their effectiveness in different contexts. The brief is intended to support local reflection and discussion, helping areas consider how their current listing practices operate and where changes may help reduce avoidable delay, rather than to prescribe a single solution.
Short Notice Applications
This learning brief brings together reflections, challenges and approaches shared by colleagues across DFJ areas in England with short notice applications.
Drawing on discussions from our work with individual DFJ areas through the National Learning Support programme, alongside insights from Communities of Practice sessions, this report explores the key challenges occurring from short notice applications and what areas are doing to manage the volume, impact, and consequence of short notice applications.
This brief features a deep dive look at work with expectant mothers and newborn babies. It looks at the key factors contributing to the prevalence of short notice hearings involving newborn babies and shares two case studies exploring how different local authorities are approaching work with expectant mothers.
Local Family Justice Board Funding, Administration, and Oversight
This learning summary offers a clear and accessible overview of how Local Family Justice Boards operate in practice, drawing on national insights from the DFJ Trailblazers Programme. It explores the real world funding, administrative and oversight arrangements that shape how Boards function, showcasing the models, challenges and examples of strong practice emerging across England and Wales.
Whether you are a Chair, practitioner or policy colleague, this summary provides a concise guide to what makes LFJBs effective, how they collaborate across agencies and how they contribute to improving outcomes for children and families.
In addition to these thematic reports we explored the key themes common to local family justice systems in a series of webinars and workshops exploring:
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The role and purpose of data in family justice
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Participatory methods and advocacy in pre-proceedings
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Making system change happen
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The importance of having the voice of women and children involved in family justice
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The value of problem solving approaches in family courts
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Improving urgent care proceedings for newborn babies
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Embedding trauma informed practices in family court
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The future of the family justice system
