Our mission: safeguarding children and families
At Close the Gap Family Courts UK, we are dedicated to reforming the family court system to better protect children and protective parents. Discover our journey, our commitment to change, and how we're working towards a more just and accountable system.
Why we started Close the Gap Family Courts UK
Close the Gap Family Courts UK was inspired by the urgent need to expose and address critical gaps in family court decision-making. These gaps consistently place children and protective parents at unacceptable risk. We tackle issues like bias, misinterpretation of trauma, and power imbalances that distort decisions in practice.
Our core mission is to improve safeguarding through better information sharing, increased accountability, and a deeper understanding of trauma and abuse within the system.
Our priorities for a safer future
Our key priorities include implementing full multi-agency checks before decisions, establishing unified safeguarding systems across all services, and ensuring improved language and accuracy in professional reporting. We advocate for independent review processes for decisions and a balanced weighting of professional input, preventing domination by single agencies.
We also push for increased accountability and oversight in decision-making, including judicial processes, and mandatory trauma-informed and abuse-aware practice. Our ultimate aim is ongoing scrutiny of safeguarding outcomes, creating a more transparent, accountable system where decisions are based on full context and the child’s lived experience.
We have 8 demands to achieve safer practices:
Key priorities include:
● Full multi-agency checks before decisions
● Unified safeguarding systems across services
● Improved language and accuracy in professional reporting
● Independent review processes for decisions
● Balanced weighting of professional input (not dominated by single agencies)
● Increased accountability and oversight of decision-making, including judicial processes
● Mandatory trauma-informed and abuse-aware practice
● Ongoing scrutiny of safeguarding outcomes
Our unique approach to evidence and change
We gather real lived experiences through open-ended storytelling and structured surveys. Our contributors remain anonymous for their protection, allowing us to compile genuine data that reveals the damage caused by poor practice. This unique approach allows us to identify systemic patterns of harm, not just isolated incidents.
We use this collective insight to inform a developing manifesto for reform, advocating for joined-up safeguarding, rebalanced professional influence, and independent oversight of decision-making.
Working together for impactful change
We work closely with survivors of the family court system and partner with other established campaigns. This united front allows us to collectively tackle problems and drive meaningful change, creating private support networks and leveraging collective insight to push for accountability, transparency, and safer outcomes for children and families across the UK.