Product Description

The provisions of the Children Act have brought about profound changes in the way child care issues are viewed and handled. Substantially reorganized and updated, this new edition of the bestselling authority on the Children Act provides an accessible and critical account of the numerous developments that have occurred in the Act since 1992.

What rights do unmarried fathers have? What is the legal position of social workers conducting a child protection investigation? This practical text means deals with such questions and includes information on commentary on

⋅ parental responsibility for children

⋅ children’s orders in divorce and other family proceedings

⋅ emergency protection of children

⋅ care orders and supervision orders

⋅ fostering and adoption

Full consideration is given to the importance of court rulings and amending legislation (including the new divorce law contained in the Family Law Act 1996), as well as to the problematic issues of practice, such as confidentiality and the interface between civil and criminal proceedings.

This jargon–free text has been specifically designed for practitioners in the social and welfare services. Making Sense of the Children Act is an essential guide to working with children to implement the complex range of organizational and practice changes that are now required.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #456209 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 298 pages

Review
...".provides a useful and clear and accessible commentary." (Social Work Education)

From the Back Cover
The provisions of the Children Act have brought about profound changes in the way child care issues are viewed and handled. Substantially reorganized and updated, this new edition of the best–selling authority on the Children Act provides an accessible and critical account of the numerous developments that have occurred in the Act since 1992. What rights do unmarried fathers have? What is the legal position of social workers conducting a child protection investigation? This practical text deals with such questions and includes information and commentary on

• parental responsibility for children
• children’s orders in divorce and other family proceedings
• emergency protection of children
• care orders and supervision orders
• fostering and adoption

Full consideration is given to the importance of court rulings and amending legislation (including the new divorce law contained in the Family Law Act 1996), as well as to the problematic issues of practice, such as confidentiality and the interface between civil and criminal proceedings. This jargon–free text has been specifically designed for practitioners in the social and welfare services. Making Sense of the Children Act is an essential guide to working with children to implement the complex range of organizational and practice changes that are now required.

About the Author
Nick Allen, BA, M.Phil, lectures in Family Law and Public Law at The Nottingham Trent University, which he joined after working for the Official Solicitor and a London local authority. He was closely involved in the consultation exercise conducted by the Law Commission prior to the Children Act and has lectured and trained extensively on the new legislation. From 1990 to 1992 he was editor of the Practitioners' Child Law Bulletin published by Longman.

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Customer Reviews

Comprehensive guide to the Act
I bought this book when our children were taken into care for "risk of neglect". We felt that the social services were acting overzealously and in infringement of our human rights.
This book sets out very clearly how the law has been revised, explains key sections and their interpretations, and provides examples of individual cases and comments on them.

It also highlights fundamental weaknesses in the law, the very weaknesses that give local authorities and child protection agencies almost unlimited power over families.

I would have liked the book to have addressed miscarriages of justice in some greater depth, but then that's because of our personal need to understand our own situation.

I also may perhaps have misread some of the interpretations, particularly with regards to the Threshold Criteria for example. The book explains precisely how these may be met. But the wording of the law is somewhat imprecise, depending on the meaning of words such as "signficant" and "normal". In our experience, we have discovered that, in practice, the law is so stacked against families, that the mere suggestion of concern by 'professionals' is sufficient to grant or renew care orders, and that it is up to us to demonstrate our innocence or competence as parents beyond a reasonable doubt.

The book hints at this, but not strongly enough in my opinion.

In other respects, the book is comprehensive, covering Parental Repsonsibility, Court Orders, Local Authority Support, Accommodation for Children, Compulsory Powers, Protection Orders, Police Powers, Care and Supervision Orders, Appeals, Welfare Reports and Guardians Ad Litem, Adoption, Foster Care, etc. It also has an excellent index.

I considered giving it only 4 stars, but because it explains the law and its practice in a fairly detached and objective way, it deserves the rating.

Another book will be required to deal specifically with the failings of the law (or more accurately, problems of attitude and tolerance in our society and perpetrated by child care professionals).

Perhaps I'll have to write it myself.

Easy reading
If like me, you are an undergraduate dyslexic student studying a social work degree and are finding the law side to it a bit daunting to get to grips with, then this book is perfect for you.It breaks laws and Acts down into smaller readable sections .I struggle with complex, heavy reading which can often be found in books on Law and find it too difficult to digest. The Making Sense of the Children Act 1989,goes a long way to help with providing smaller and straight to the point little 'chunks' of information.This edition provides all relevant and recent developments such as The Adoption and Children Act 2002, The laming Report which resulted from the Victoria Climbie'case, and step by step, indepth information concerning everything to do with court procedures, who is involved, and how long each procedure is.What can often be a difficult and dare I say it..boring subject, Allens 4th Edition makes reading around the Children Act interesting, easier and a must have for students or practitioners in the social care world.