IN HARMS WAY EB
About this book
'Should be required reading for those who care about how society treats our most vulnerable citizens.' Louise Allen
When the system fails the parents, how can it protect the children?
Welcome to the secretive world of the Family Court.
What's it like to act for a father who has recently overcome his drug problem but risks losing his beloved son to foster care?
Or to represent a young mother whose abusive childhood has left her depressed and struggling to cope, to the point where the local authority is seeking to persuade the Family Court to place her small children for adoption?
The Family Court makes life-changing decisions about the most vulnerable children in England and Wales behind closed doors. It's an institution tasked with protecting the youngers most at risk, but how often does it make the right decisions?
In this hard-hitting account of her work representing parents in care proceedings in the Family Court, child protection lawyer Teresa Thornhill conveys the dilemmas inherent in the job and shows how our under-resourced system of child protection – in both its social work and legal aspects – often fails to provide support that could enable the most vulnerable parents to continue to care for their children.
'A vivid account of all the terrible things that can happen to children and all the challenges facing lawyers and social workers in our child protection system which is meant to help and protect them but which struggles to do so. It doesn't have to be this way so what can be done about it?' – Rt Hon Lady Hale DBE, Formerly President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
'This timely book resonated with my experiences as a children's social worker and probation officer; it's a refreshingly honest account of our dysfunctional child protection system.' – Joanna Hughes, former children's social worker and probation officer.
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Information
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Note to Readers
- Dedication
- Contents
- Author’s note
- Preface – Alice G
- PART ONE – LIFE AT THE BAR
- 1 Secrecy, Confidentiality and Why I’m Writing This Book
- 2 Who’s Who in Child Protection
- 3 Dwayne
- 4 Initial Hearing
- 5 By the Light of the Moon
- 6 The Psychologist’s Evidence
- 7 The Timescale of the Child
- 8 In the Woods
- 9 Baby K
- 10 The Guardian in Purple
- 11 Final Hearing
- 12 A Country Home with Horses
- PART TWO – LOCAL AUTHORITY LAWYER
- 13 The View from the Mountains
- 14 Anxiety Levels Rise
- 15 Duty
- 16 The Locum
- PART THREE – LOCKDOWN
- 17 The Horse
- 18 Hearing by Video Platform
- 19 Snow
- 20 Lawrence
- PART FOUR – LAST DAYS AS A LAWYER
- 21 The Cab Rank Rule
- 22 Fact Finding
- 23 Discharge Application
- Epilogue
- Glossary of Child Protection Jargon
- Notes
- Acknowledgements
- About the Publisher