Why Family Courts and Child Maintenance Need a Mandatory Triage System

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Family justice in the UK is under increasing pressure.

Family courts and the Child Maintenance Service are dealing with rising caseloads, complex financial disputes, and deeply conflicted parenting arrangements.

And yet despite dealing with the same families, these systems often operate in isolation from one another.

This creates a serious gap in understanding the reality of family breakdown.

At the centre of this problem is a fundamental issue: decisions are frequently made based on competing narratives rather than structured, evidence-led triage at the very beginning of a case.

If we want to improve outcomes for children, reduce conflict, and ensure fairness, we need a shift in how family justice begins.

We need a mandatory Family Justice Triage System.

The problem: fragmented truth

At present, when a family enters the court system or applies to the Child Maintenance Service, professionals are often presented with partial accounts of a relationship breakdown.

One parent may describe financial hardship.

Another may describe coercive control.

Another may describe parental alienation.

All of these may contain elements of truth, but without structured early assessment, the system is left to interpret complex situations without full context.

Critical information is often not immediately visible, including:-

• Who retained the family home after separation

• Who retained pensions, savings, and investments

• What financial settlement was reached in divorce proceedings

• Whether one parent gave up work to care for children

• Whether earning capacity was restricted during the relationship

• Whether there is evidence of financial or economic abuse

Without this context, professionals risk making assessments based on incomplete financial and caregiving histories.

Why this matters

Family breakdown is not only emotional; it is deeply financial.

The division of assets during separation,  housing, pensions, savings  can fundamentally reshape each parent’s post-separation financial reality.

And yet child maintenance decisions are often made without considering:-

• The outcome of the divorce settlement

• The distribution of long-term assets

• The caregiving sacrifices made during the relationship

This can lead to outcomes where one parent retains significant financial security while the other carries the burden of day-to-day childcare with limited resources.

Equally, it can lead to situations where narratives dominate over evidence, and safeguarding concerns are not identified early enough.

The role of coercive control and financial abuse

There is growing recognition of coercive control and economic abuse within family justice however, these issues are often only identified later in proceedings, once conflict has escalated.

A structured triage system would allow professionals to identify early indicators such as:-

• Restrictions on employment during the relationship

• Control over household finances

• Unequal access to savings or income

• Patterns of post-separation financial pressure or contact restriction

Early identification is critical.

Without it, the system risks treating symptoms rather than causes.

What a triage system would do

A mandatory Family Justice Triage Assessment would be completed at the start of every Family Court and Child Maintenance Service application.

It would capture structured information such as:-

• Length of relationship and caregiving roles

• Divorce and financial settlement outcomes

• Employment history and restrictions on earning capacity

• Distribution of assets including housing, pensions, and savings

• Evidence of coercive control, financial abuse, or economic abuse

• Child contact and financial support arrangements

Importantly, this is not about increasing bureaucracy. It is about ensuring that key facts are known early, and not discovered too late.

Benefits of early structured assessment

A triage approach would:-

• Improve safeguarding by identifying risk earlier

• Reduce reliance on competing narratives

• Support more consistent financial assessments

• Reduce unnecessary litigation and court time

• Improve coordination between Family Courts and Child Maintenance Service

Most importantly, it would place children’s welfare at the centre of decision-making by ensuring the full picture is understood from the outset.

Children are the ones affected

When family justice systems fail to capture the full reality of separation, children are the ones who experience the consequences.

They may face:-

• Financial instability

• Ongoing parental conflict

• Reduced contact with one parent

• Prolonged legal disputes between adults

These outcomes are not inevitable. They are often the result of fragmented systems that fail to join up information at the earliest stage.

A practical reform, not a theoretical one

This proposal is not about reinventing family justice.

It is about improving the first step.

A structured triage system is already standard practice in other public services, particularly in healthcare, where early assessment determines urgency, risk, and allocation of resources.

Family justice would benefit from a similar approach.

Conclusion

Family courts and the Child Maintenance Service are not separate worlds. They deal with the same families, the same children, and often the same underlying issues.

Continuing to operate without a shared structured triage system risks incomplete decision-making and delayed safeguarding.

A mandatory Family Justice Triage Assessment would not remove discretion from professionals. It would equip them with better information at the point where it matters most, the beginning.

Because in family justice, as in all safeguarding systems, the quality of the outcome depends on the quality of the first question.

And the first question should always be:

What is the full reality of this family?

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Deanna Newell Family Law

Advocacy for truth-tellers, survivors, and the children who deserve better