Harnessing the Power of Data to Improve Family Justice: A New Nuffield Family Justice Observatory For England and Wales

• Author: Teresa Williams,Karen Broadhurst
• Date: 01 July 2019
• Published date: 01 July 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12428

HARNESSING THE POWER OF DATA TO IMPROVE

FAMILY JUSTICE: A NEW NUFFIELD FAMILY JUSTICE

OBSERVATORY FOR ENGLAND AND WALES

Karen Broadhurst and Teresa Williams

A pilot Family Justice Observatory for England and Wales is being launched in Spring 2019. Its overarching aim is to

address concerns about the limited and uncertain place of empirical evidence in the family justice system. The Observatory

will focus on providing intelligence about how the system is working, especially through the accelerated use of electronic

population level data on family justice cases. Drawing on collaborative relationships between data providers and users, as

well as policy and practice colleagues, the Observatory will improve collective understanding of the needs of children and

families and how they are met by the family justice system.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Decisions made in the family courts have lifelong effects on the lives of children and families. However, there is insuffi-

cient research evidence about the immediate and longer-term outcomes offamily court decisions as an international trend.

Greater use of large-scale datasets produced routinely by the family courts and related agencies can shed light on the

impact of familycourt decisions, addressing questions of both transparency in family court practice and effectiveness.

Administrative data refers to information about persons or organizational activity that is collected routinely by gov-

ernment, statutory, or other agencies. The advantages of using administrative data for socio-legal research lie in sam-

ple size, electronic format, and that records often date back a number of years.

Use of this data is an efficient means of generating intelligence about how family justice systems are working, and

where researchers can be provided with safe access to anonymised records. Looking ahead, the further digitization of

not only records but also services will create even richer data resources for socio-legal research.

Keywords: Children; Family; Infants; Justice; Observatory; System.

Correspondence: k.broadhurst@lancaster.ac.uk; teresa.williams@cafcass.gov.uk

Karen Broadhurst,Professor of Social WorkDepartment of Sociology, Society Lead, DataScience Institute, LancasterUniversity.

Teresa Williams, Director of Strategy, Children and Family Court Advisory Service England and formerly Director of Jus-

tice & Welfare, Nuffield Foundation.

The Nuffield Foundation will launch a pilot Family Justice Observatory for England and Wales in the spring of 2019. The

overarching aim of the new Observatory is to address long-standing concerns about the limited and uncertain place of empiri-

cal evidence in the family justice system. The Observatory speaks to a general consensus that more needs to be done to

ensure that highly consequential decisions concerning children in the family courts are informed by sound empirical evi-

dence, alongside other forms of knowledge. International consultation has revealed that this consensus extends to a number

of comparable jurisdictions.

This article introduces readers to the genesis of the new Observatory and its core objectives. Informed by detailed consulta-

tion with stakeholders in England and Wales, the Observatory will test a range of knowledge generation, synthesis, and

mobilization activities. A major program of work within the new Observatory will focus on improving intelligence about

how the family justice system is working. In the context of a rapidly changing data environment, a key objective of the new

Observatory will be to accelerate the use of electronic population-level data to address pressing questions about how the fam-

ily justice system is working. Underpinning all actions of the new Observatory is a collaborative ethos. Reciprocal relation-

ships between data providers and users, as well as policy and practice colleagues, will ensure that the Foundation’s

investment is firmly focused on the needs of children and families and how they are met bythe family justice system.

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 57 No. 3, July 2019 405–413

© 2019 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts