TENS of thousands of children are being left in limbo as a result of slow care proceedings and case resolving, the Law Society of England and Wales warned today.

Children who have been removed from their parents by the state are having to wait an average of 46 weeks to get a final decision on where they will live, the group’s analysis of data from the Children and Family Court Advisory & Support Service (Cafcass) shows.

And in 13 out of the 42 designated family judge areas in England and Wales, the wait is double the recommended government target of 26 weeks.

The worst-hit areas for public law delays are east London and Norwich at 60 weeks and west London and Wolverhampton/Telford at 58 weeks.

Cafcass now has 31,961 open children’s cases, with 52,276 individual children affected.

Children involved in private family law cases who are waiting for decisions on living arrangements after their parents have separated also face similar delays, the Law Society added.

There are now more than 80,000 children caught up in private family law proceedings, according to court statistics.

In 2022, the case duration in private family law was 44.9 weeks, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice.

Law Society president Lubna Shuja said: “What is often missed in the debate around the unacceptable backlogs in our family courts is the impact on children.

“They are suffering the very real consequences of months and sometimes years of uncertainty about their future, preventing them from having the stability they need to thrive.”

Law Society’s Access to Justice Committee member Cris McCurley said: “The entire family courts system is creaking after years of austerity cuts and neglect.

“As a practitioner, it is heartbreaking to have to deal with the consequences of this and I worry about the effect on children, some of whom have not seen their primary carer parent for more than three years.

“There needs to be investment in the system, now.”

The Law Society is calling on the government to restore early legal advice in family law cases to help parents better understand their rights and their options for resolving issues involving children.

A ministry spokesperson said it has been taking decisive action to improve wait times in family courts and investing £24 million in mediation schemes.