Reports for the Court: The Work of the Divorce Court Welfare Officer

Abstract

The probation service was informally involved in the work of matrimonial conciliation for many years. As a result of the recommendation of a Departmental Committee¹ in 1936, however, its statutory duties were extended to include conciliation work and the making of investigations for the court, by the Summary Procedure (Domestic Proceedings) Act 1937. Following this, as a result of the Matrimonial Causes Rules 1957,² probation committees were required to ensure that a probation officer was assigned as a welfare officer to the High Court hearing cases in that area “with a view to assisting the Court in making an order or provision with respect to the custody, maintenance or education of a child.”³ Thus, when the Morison Committee⁴ reviewed the work of the probation service in 1962, it was able to record the warm testimony received from the President of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division to the value of the enquiry work done by probation officers in the divorce courts.