Child Protection Vocabulary in the Children Act 1989: Power, Ambiguity and Heterogeneity

Regardless the few decades that an established legislative framework in Child Protection has been in effect, the responsibility of the Law and the Child Protection System is to continuously explore social needs, as they change, transform or new ones are introduced to adapt to the circumstances in the attempts to safeguard and protect children. This paper is not focusing on those adaptations; it draws on this responsibility to argue that in an ever-changing world, wherein needs and demands are shifting, Child Protection Vocabulary needs to be more explicit and adaptive to those changes. Vocabulary like ‘best interest’, ‘resilience’, ‘power’, and ‘vulnerability’ are commonplace in child protection legislation, regulation, policy and practice. That said, the question of interpretation is always of concern; how are the varied agencies, stakeholders, authorities, groups, and individuals approaching safeguarding and child protection when the heterogeneity of the language used is ever-increasing? This paper provides a conceptual content analysis of Child Protection Vocabulary found in the Children Act 1989. The analysis will be drawing on the amendments in Children Act 2004, as well as the Children and Social Work Act 2017, but will preserve its focus on the Children Act 1989 as the foundation for the contemporary Child Protection System. Implications of the findings are provided at the end.

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Decision Making in Child and Family Social Work

10.1332/policypress/9781447354444.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Clive Diaz

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Social Workers ◽

Child Protection ◽

Protection System ◽

Senior Managers ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Parents And Children ◽

Children And Parents ◽

Selling Point ◽

New Research

This book presents new research on the extent to which parents and children participate in decision making when childcare social workers are involved and it considers two key meetings in depth: child protection conferences and child in care reviews. There is currently a great deal of interest in how social workers can work more effectively with families and in particular give children a voice. There is also considerable public and media interest in the child protection system, in particular relating to how children are safeguarded by social workers. This book will argue that unless we listen to (and act upon whenever possible) the views of children it is very difficult to safeguard and offer them an effective service. The unique selling point of the book will be that it is based on original solid empirical research following interviews with multiple stakeholders across two local authorities in England including children (n=75), parents (n=52), social workers (n=11, independent reviewing officers (n=8) and senior managers (n=7). This book will consider how 10 years of austerity has impacted on the child protection system and it will have a particular focus on how current practice leads to children and parents often feeling oppressed and excluded in decision making about their lives. The book promises to be authoritative and informed on issues on the ground and very relevant to both policy and practice.

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Child Abuse And Neglect: Mandatory Reporting and the Legal Profession

UniSA Student Law Review ◽

10.21913/uslrunisaslr.v2i0.1361 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Author(s):

Vanessa Deverson

Keyword(s):

Child Abuse ◽

Child Protection ◽

Child Abuse And Neglect ◽

Mandatory Reporting ◽

Vulnerable Children ◽

Abuse And Neglect ◽

Protection Legislation ◽

Legislative Framework ◽

Legal Professional ◽

Reporting Laws

Child abuse and neglect affects approximately 42 500 children in Australia each year. Parliaments in all Australian states and territories have introduced mandatory reporting into child protection legislation to protect vulnerable children by requiring certain individuals to report suspicions of abuse or neglect. However, lawyers are prevented from reporting because of the rules governing legal professional privilege and confidentiality. This article begins by examining the problem of child abuse and neglect in Australia and outlines the current legislative framework of mandatory reporting laws in Part II. Part III discusses the current rules governing lawyers and examines legal professional privilege and the duty of confidentiality. Part IV provides arguments for and against requiring lawyers to report suspected abuse and also considers the lawyer-client relationship and the special position of domestic violence victims. Part V offers recommendations for the proposed legislative reform. This article concludes that lawyers should be required to report child abuse and neglect.

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Concepts of Adversity, Risk, Vulnerability and Resilience: A Discussion in the Context of the ‘Child Protection System’

Social Policy and Society ◽

10.1017/s1474746409990364 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 231-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Brigid Daniel

Keyword(s):

Child Protection ◽

State Intervention ◽

Protection System ◽

Abuse And Neglect ◽

Protection Systems ◽

Protective System ◽

Recent Developments ◽

Legislative Framework ◽

Risk Vulnerability ◽

The Uk

This paper explores the concepts of adversity, risk, vulnerability and resilience in the context of child protection systems with the aim of contributing to the debate about the ways in which risk of ‘harm’ and ‘abuse’ are conceptualised at different stages of the lifespan and in relation to different groups of people. The recent developments in the policy and legislative framework for state intervention on behalf of children in the UK are described and linked with an exploration of the underlying assumptions about abuse and neglect. Concepts of adversity, risk, vulnerability and resilience and the ways in which the complexity of the routes and pathways to ‘harm’ pose a challenge to the current UK state protective system are discussed.

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Does Ireland Measure Up?

The International Journal of Children s Rights ◽

10.1163/15718182-02604001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 626-663

Author(s):

Fiona Broughton Coveney

Keyword(s):

Child Protection ◽

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽

Alcohol Exposure ◽

Legal Interpretation ◽

Best Interest ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Rights Of The Child ◽

Law And Policy ◽

United Nations Convention ◽

Prenatal Alcohol

This article examines protection rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (crc) and assesses the extent to which such protection rights are afforded to prenatal children in Ireland in the context of prenatal exposure to alcohol. It follows on from the article, “Overstepping the Mark?” (Broughton, 2016: 687–717) in which the author demonstrates the possibilities for the application of the crc to prenatal children. Within the context of protection rights under the crc, this article examines Irish law and policy on protecting children from prenatal alcohol exposure, through the lenses of both child protection and public policy. The central thesis of the article is that although Irish law has the potential to offer prenatal children crc protection rights from this type of harm, legal interpretation has hindered this potential and legal clarity is now necessary to bolster policy and practice, in the best interest of children.

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In ‘The Best Interests of the Child’: Critical Reflections on an Overused Construct

Children Australia ◽

10.1375/jcas.36.1.12 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 12-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Patricia Hansen ◽

Frank Ainsworth

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Child Abuse ◽

Foster Care ◽

Social Science ◽

Child Protection ◽

Kinship Care ◽

Best Interests ◽

Best Interest ◽

Abuse And Neglect ◽

Protection Legislation

The construct ‘the best interest of the child’ is embedded in child protection legislation in all Australian states and territories. This phrase or construct in its modern iteration that dates from 1973 is constantly evoked when decisions are being made about a child's future following the substantiation of a case of child abuse and neglect. The use of the best interests of the child as a standard for decision-making, even though there is no consensus in law or social science as to what the construct means, needs to be questioned. What often follows from reliance on the best interests of the child is the placement of a child in foster care or kinship care in the hope that this will produce a better outcome for the child than if they remained in parental care. No doubt this is true for some children. Recent outcomes studies of foster care point to less than promising results for many children. As a result it can be argued that placing a child in foster care is a gamble with the child's future life.

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