Research summary

The Family Law and Health Research Group studies the health of families before, during, and after court proceedings using anonymised data. We've found that physical and mental health problems, substance misuse, and social challenges are significantly higher in families involved in court cases compared to the general population.

Types of family court cases we study

Care proceedings
(public law)

Definition: When social services apply to remove a child from their birth family and into state care, or place them under close supervision, due to concerns about abuse or neglect. Also called 'public family court proceedings'.

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Volume: Approximately 16,000 cases involving 27,000 children per year in England*

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Key characteristics:

  • Involves local authority social services
  • Child protection focus
  • High rates of health and social needs

Private proceedings
(private law)

Definition: Disputes between individuals about the upbringing of children, often between parents following relationship breakdown. This includes disputes over where children live, contact arrangements and other specific issues

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Volume: Approximately 51,000 cases involving 78,000 children per year in England*

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Key characteristics:

  • 40% - 60% of private law cases involve domestic abuse allegations
  • Potential source of court and perpetrator induced trauma
  • High rates of health and social need

*Source. (“Family Court Tables” tables 1 and 5).

Policy impact of our research

Our research aims to directly inform NHS policy, social services practice, and family law. We focus on understanding how other public services, such as the NHS, can support families earlier to prevent problems reaching crisis point. Where families do appear in family court, we aim to provide evidence that makes the process less harmful and delivers better outcomes for everyone involved.

Key research questions we're asking

1. What early life factors are associated with later family court involvement?

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2. What is the health of families before, during and after family court?

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What is legal epidemiology?

Definition: Legal epidemiology studies the relationship between law and  legal processes and population health

Our application: We treat family court involvement as both a health exposure and an outcome in its own right and measure its effects on families using the same rigorous methods used to study public health issues.

Unique approach:

  • First-time data linking: Successfully connected family court datasets with NHS health data for all of England
  • Population-scale analysis: We study entire populations using anonymised data, not individual cases
  • Long-term analysis: We examine outcomes over long periods of time, to understand how early life factors affect later court involvement and vice versa
  • Evidence-based recommendations: Our findings directly inform policy and practice

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Data sources:

We use data routinely collected by public services, known as administrative data. These datasets include information such as dates of health service contact, diagnoses, court applications and their legal outcomes.

We do not work with actual court files or hospital case records. All data is anonymised and we cannot identify individuals.

The main datasets we use are:

  • Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) administrative records
  • NHS Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)
  • Mental health services dataset
  • Social care databases