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Home / Sociology » Law » Family Law and Social Work » Brayne & Carr: Law for Social Workers 10e » Student resources » Further reading » Chapter 7

Brayne & Carr: Law for Social Workers 10e

Chapter 7

We strongly recommend owning and reading your own copy of the Children Act 1989. We also recommend further reading of a specialist text on the Children Act, such as R. White, P. Carr, and N. Lowe, The Children Act in Practice (3rd edn., Butterworths, 2002).

The welfare principle

J. Eekelaar, 'Beyond the Welfare Principle' 14 C & FLR 237 - a stimulating article which argues that the very ease of the welfare test encourages an unwillingness to pay proper attention to all the interests that are at stake in decision making.

E. Jackson, 'Conception and Irrelevance of the Welfare Principle' (2002) 65(2) Modern Law Review 176 - this article looks at the use of the welfare principle in decisions about fertility treatment.

H. Reece, 'The Paramountcy principle: Consensus or Construct?' (1986) 49 Current Legal Problems 267.

The best interests of the child

M. Woolf, 'Coming of Age? - The Principle of "the Best Interests of the Child" ' [2003] EHRLR 205. This article contrasts the approaches of the ECtHR and the English courts in decisions about the best interests of the child.

Children's rights

There is a host of information available on children's rights. A useful introduction to the issues can be found in C. Booth, 'In Search of Children's Rights', Editorial [2003] JLGL. You can access a variety of web sites giving you access to the text of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child for instance www.unicef.org/crc or the vibrant and punchy web site of the children's rights alliance for England www.crae.org.uk.

The Howard League for Penal Reform

You may be interested in the other work on behalf of children in custody undertaken by the Howard League for Penal Reform who took the case against the Government which formed the case study featured in this chapter. They have produced reports on girls in prison, the use of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders against children and deaths of children in custody. Their web site www.howardleague.org provides a range of useful information.

Reform of care proceedings

J. Masson, 'Reforming care proceedings: time for a review' (2007) 19(4) CFam 411. This article looks at the different reviews of care proceedings that have taken place since 2004 and suggests that the problem of delay in court proceedings has not been effectively researched.