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Parenting can be impacted by substance misuse, and children can be at risk of maltreatment, leading to their removal from their mothers. Successful treatment of substance abuse relies on these women gaining effective support from services. Previous research has demonstrated the impact working in this field can have on staff, including high staff turnover, vicarious trauma, and burnout. The present study further explores the experience of staff members working in a Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service in Scotland who work with mothers who have had their children removed. Six interviews with nurses and social care workers were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Two superordinate themes were developed from the data: (1) complexity and tension within working relationships and (2) emotional experiences and attempts to resolve them. Participants described the complexity of their roles, including the dual role of supporting mothers while also being involved in the child removal process by providing reports and evidence and how they respond and work with mothers after removal and conflicts with the wider system. They also highlighted their attempts to cope with the emotional impact of being part of this process and the empathy they have with mothers, especially when they are parents themselves, and described the complexities of trying to cope and manage when working in this challenging area. Clinical implications, including training needs and requirements, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the court case AX v BX & Ors were placed in foster care in 2007 at the ages of five and nearly three years. The article discusses that A & B applied to revoke the adoption order using the inherent jurisdiction; and the court set out the established principles for adoption orders being a transformative and permanent transfer of parental responsibility.

The article discusses the impacts of training of social work students on decision making regarding children at risk of abuse. Topics include the impacts of the attitudes of mothers on decisions to remove children, the relation of the attitudes of children on reunification with families, and the use of situational rules as part of decision making by social work practitioners.

Despite legislative reforms over the last 5 years aimed at giving non-resident parents rights to 'involvement' in the lives of their children, the UK has not enacted a presumption of 50-50 shared care. The UK's emphasis on individual arrangements follows an overall policy trend toward privatization of family disputes. The sparse data that exists suggest that the UK lags behind other Western countries in the number of separated or divorced couples engaging in shared care. This article outlines recent legislative changes, examines the available information on post separation contact and shared care, discusses reasons for the scarcity of data, and concludes with observations on the importance of improved data-gathering on UK post separation parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on two Afghan boys arrived in North East of England and placed in long-term foster placement, and mentions about decision taken by court regarding them. Topics include properly accommodating unaccompanied asylum-seeking children under section 20 of the Children Act 1989; supporting the leaving care provisions, and implementing decisions about education, care and medical treatment.

The article presents the discussion on concerns over the use of consent for removing a baby into local authority care. Topics include containing no compulsory provisions and no compulsory curtailment of parental responsibility; and refusing the permission for social workers in removing the newborn baby into the care under the Children Act.

This paper reports on an exploratory study of the role of solicitors acting for parents with intellectual disabilities (ID) in public law proceedings. The paper draws on in-depth interviews with 11 solicitors and a subsequent focus group in which the interview findings were presented and reflected on by six of the eleven participants. Two of the five themes that emerged will be discussed here. They are entitled ‘Attitudes and Influence’ and ‘Legal Processes’ and concern the attitudes and influence of those involved in assessing, supporting and representing parents with ID and the care proceedings processes encountered by parents with ID. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Public Law Outline (PLO) introduced in England and Wales in April 2008 appeared to hold out the promise of a fairer process for parents within pre-proceedings decision-making processes that determine whether or not the local authority will make an application to court. Whilst the rhetoric of the PLO to provide consensual solutions within administrative rather than judicial decision-making processes may be laudable, there are tensions and dilemmas in ensuring the rights of parents and children are protected when important decisions are being made without the oversight of the court. Despite the rhetoric of keeping children and families at the heart, there appears no relief from the procedural and managerial processes set within a context of public sector cuts affecting all professionals tasked with protecting children. Achieving justice for children and families to ensure their rights are protected within a protocol that necessitates increased resources will be a challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various aspects related to poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Topics including his infidelity, his fight for his children's custody, his poems and the law related to child custody which was prevalent in the nineteenth century in Great Britain, are discussed. It mentions Shelley's legal battle for the custody of his two children from his first marriage to Harriet Westbrook. The reflection of his mental condition with respect to love for his children is found in his poetry.

ABSTRACT Until recently, little was known about kinship care in the UK. Research has begun to illuminate the circumstances which lead to children being cared for by relatives, and the stresses and strains experienced by carers. However, most UK research has only considered 'looked-after' children placed with formal approved kinship foster carers, although this group forms the smallest proportion of children in kinship arrangements. In this paper, we use microdata from the 2001 UK Population Census to examine the characteristics of kinship carers and children, and demonstrate that most children in kinship care are growing up in informal unregulated arrangements. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In AI v. MT, the High Court gave effect to an agreement on both financial and children issues reached following non-binding arbitration by rabbinical authorities in New York. This case note considers religious marriages and divorces in English law, and the role of religious arbitration as a form of alternative dispute resolution in family court cases. It raises questions about the protections currently available to those of some faiths, and about the appropriateness of religious arbitration in cases concerning children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on custody disputes over illegitimate children in England during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to the author, these cases demonstrate the ambiguous treatment of children without identifiable fathers in England's patriarchal law system. Details on the roles of children's economic and emotional support in judges' decisions are presented. Topics discussed include gender, class, and national and local laws concerning the poor.

The article focuses on the issue that whether or not sharia courts should be sanctioned in the U.S. like Great Britain for private arbitrations. It discusses substantive areas of sharia law, including divorce, child custody, and inheritance. It depicts that sharia courts can be a mutually beneficial policy for both the U.S. and its Muslim community, with proper safeguards. It reflects on the rise of Great Britain's sharia courts in context of the social, political and historical perspective.

Stredny, Archer, and Mason (2006) collected MMPI–2 data on 127 individuals who were ordered by the court to undergo parental competency evaluations in the United States. We sought to compare their results with the MMPI–2 profiles of a sample of 89 U.K. parents who had also undergone court-ordered parental competency evaluations. The MMPI–2 results for the U.K. sample were found to be largely consistent with the U.S. sample, with a near significant elevation on the Lie scale (L) and peaks on clinical scales 4 (Psychopathic Deviate) and 6 (Paranoia). A significant difference between the two samples was found only on Scale 5 (Masculinity/Femininity). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose - This paper seeks to consider the inter-connections between law and child development, particularly in the areas of child custody and child protection, in both the USA and the UK.Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on analysis of US and UK legal systems and child developmental research.Findings - Although the two legal systems have much in common in their approach to safeguarding children's welfare, there are also notable differences between them in terminology and in concept. Whereas the USA places a greater emphasis on the rights, particularly autonomy rights, of both parents and children, the UK justifies its laws affecting children largely in terms of parental responsibility and child need.Originality/value - The paper argues that each of these legal regimes has something to learn from the other and a reader interested in thinking about the relationship between child welfare and law will profit from considering the distinctions, as well as the commonalities, between the two regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a driving force within current UK child welfare policies which promotes a strengths led approach to both assessment and care planning for children in need. Social policy emphasizes the importance of tangible outcomes such as education achievement, which have been enshrined in statute. However, other developmental outcomes, such as identity, are subordinated. Notwithstanding the relevance of these more concrete indicators, this paper suggests that this focus has left a gap at theoretical, strategic and operational levels relating to more psychosocial aspects of human growth and development, such as identity. This paper seeks to redress that gap by considering identity as both a process and an outcome. Following a review of the literature on identity development, it presents an analysis of semi-structured interviews with 13 young people and their social workers. The findings show how young people's identity is shaped by their relationships, can be a protective mechanism, and deferred or put on standby. In the concluding discussion the implications for social work practice are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a British court case wherein a father was granted a residence order by His Honour Judge Bellamy (HHJ Bellamy) to have his 12-year-old son live with him and his new family. It states that the father was disappointed as his son refused to live with him even with the residence order. It explores the conflict among the parents that led to the child's alienation towards the father. It also tackles the European Convention of Human Rights 1950 and the right to family life.

Copyright of Brocar: Cuadernos de Investigación Histórica is the property of Universidad de la Rioja, Servicio de Publicaciones and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article analyses case law from the UK, New Zealand, and Canada relating to claims for recognition of refugee status presented by divorced Muslim women, revolving around the issue of child custody after divorce under conservative Islamic law, which deprives women of any meaningful relationship with their children. The negative attitude of the UK authorities is compared to the open and positive approach of decision makers in New Zealand and Canada. The use and interpretation of aspects of the refugee definition, such as persecution, particular social group and the standard of state protection, are analyzed in more detail. The article argues that, in order to adequately evaluate this type of claim, decision makers should take into account all aspects of a woman's experiences including the consequences of the decision on their children. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article deals with the ethical standards that social workers should adopt when dealing with cases of child custody and protection in Great Britain. It is advised by the author that social workers should act within the framework of the "Code of Practice for Social Workers" and the "Code of Ethics for Social Work" in cases in which invasion of a family's private life is at stake. A case report of a child under foster-care arrangement is detailed.

The article discusses the court case Re M, which deals with parental child abduction in breach of custody rights across international borders. The author references the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction of 1980, the decision of both the High Court and the House of Lords in England, as well as providing commentary about the "settlement" of the children in Re M.

The article discusses two cases highlighting the tensions and difficulties that children present to the youth justice system in Great Britain. The facts and decisions in R (on the application of K) versus Parole Board and in R (on the application of K) versus Manchester City Council were stated. These cases highlight a promising trend in the judiciary to enunciate children's interests in terms of their rights when incorporating welfare-based interests where appropriate, in order to ensure that the child is able to enjoy his rights to the same extent as an adult.

This article offers for inspection the proposition that the adversarial evidence-based litigation process is unsuitable for resolving custody cases in general and relocation cases in particular. It analyzes the leading cases from New York, Massachusetts, California, England, Canada, and Australia. It reaches a conclusion that no jurisdiction has devised a legal standard or formula that enables a judge to predict the future best interest of a child if that child is allowed to relocate with one parent away from the other. For this reason, the court has a duty to offer as sophisticated and friendly a settlement process and atmosphere as possible. However, knowing that judges will still be required to resolve these difficult cases because they often seem impervious to settlement, the article offers thirty-six factors that a court should consider in all move-away cases. By relying on each of these factors that is relevant to the case, the parents will have an understanding of why the decision was made the way it was and it will also allow for effective appellate review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the current state of the law on child relocation across the major common law-based jurisdictions, with particular emphasis on the contrasting approaches to the problem in Australia and the United Kingdom. It then goes on to suggest changes aimed at achieving more principled and predictable outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the new arrangements for reviewing decisions of the Child Support Agency, which came into force on 1 January 2007. Since that date the jurisdiction of the SSAT has been expanded to include merits review of agency decisions. There has been bipartisan political support for the introduction of a greater element of external review into the child support scheme. This article examines the new arrangements in the light of the experience of the child support scheme in Great Britain, where appeals against agency decisions have been heard by tribunals modelled on those used for resolving social security disputes since 1993. The British experience suggests that the inquisitorial ethos of the SSAT model, premised on a citizen v state dispute, is not necessarily well suited to dealing with child support disputes, which are typically adversarial in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on the growing politicization of law and fatherhood. The article addresses the arguments presented by fathers' rights organizations in seeking to set a reform agenda in this area of law in Great Britain. Internationally, an increasingly vocal, visible and organized fathers' rights movement has been credited with influencing perceptions of the politics of family justice. The article further seeks to explore the emergence of a new militant direct action fathers rights agenda, best illustrated in Great Britain context by the group "Fathers 4 Justice." This is a relatively new organization in the field and have attracted considerable media attention as a result of a series of demonstrations involving fathers and their supporters. Their protests have been diverse in form, organization/planning and public visibility. In April 2004, the government announced it was committed to introduce "new laws to end the child custody wars" in the form of a Green Paper outlining proposals aimed at diverting divorcing parents, as far as possible, from the courts, promoting "generous parenting for both" and introducing early intervention schemes based on the "clear expectation" that both parents will have the time to form a meaningful relationship with the child.

Prior research suggests shared environmental influences on cognitive performance are important in early childhood. However, few studies have attempted to identify the factors comprising this shared environmental variance. To address this issue, we examined the covariance between task orientation, parental warmth, socioeconomic status and general cognitive ability in a British twin study of 125 pairs of identical and same-sex fraternal twins. Task orientation correlated r = . 41 with general cognitive ability. Bivariate genetic analyses suggested that this correlation was mediated by shared environmental influences. Additional analyses suggested that SES and parental warmth mediated about two-thirds of the shared environmental covariance between task engagement and cognitive skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

6 British child custody appeal cases including a homosexual parent were compared with 6 randomly drawn appeal cases between heterosexual parents for parental and mental instability, partners' instability, residential instability, criminality, and lying, and having harmed the children and exposing children to harms. In 3 of the 6 cases the homosexual or his associates were recorded as engaging in criminality, in another 2 cases with lying. In one of the 6 homosexual cases the children were recorded as harmed. The 9 recorded harms or probable harms to children in cases involving a homosexual parent were attributed to the homosexual or her associates: children were recorded as harmed and exposed to the harm of neglect in one of the 6 comparison cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews the developments in the law's response to domestic violence in Great Britain. Conflict between the criminal law and the family law provisions in relation to children; Role of the Children's Act of 1989 in the custody and access of children to divorced parent; Value of contact between children and violent fathers; Reforms of the family law to reduce conflict.

Examines the subject of child custody found in the novels `Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte and `The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,' by Anne Bronte. Relationship between imprisonment and caretaking in debates over the Infant Custody Bill of 1839 in Great Britain; Child custody in the plots of the novels; Debunking of discipline in `The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.'

Great Britain is currently experiencing a barrage of exhortations to personal responsibility. This is evident from even a cursory study of the speeches of politicians and is reflected in the pronouncements of many professional groups. Parents are being encouraged to be more responsible for their children's education: they can now attend an annual meeting to quiz the school governors who, on their behalf, will almost certainly be empowered to take responsibility for the school itself. Why this emphasis on personal, and particularly parental responsibility is being made and why it is assumed it is a good thing is obviously a subject of enquiry in its own right, which can only form the background to this paper. What is particularly of concern is the use being made of the concept of responsibility in connection with divorce conciliation. This conciliation or mediation as it is more commonly referred to in North America, of issues arising from parental separation is an international development which has occurred most extensively in North America, Australia and New Zealand, and more recently in some countries of Europe.

The paper reports available British data from cross sectional and longitudinal studies examining the long-term impact of parental divorce on children's life chances. We suggest that an effect can be traced, lowering the educational attainment of both sexes and the socio-economic status of males in their mid-twenties following parental divorce or separation before the age of fifteen years. This effect is reduced but not removed by remarriage of the custodial parent. The paper is descriptive rather than prescriptive but suggests that the issue of children's life chances should find a place in the agenda when the policy issues surrounding divorce are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the policy statement concerning the deficit in information on why the authority finds it necessary to lock up children in secure units, particularly in locked children's homes run by social services in Great Britain. Accordingly, the National Children's Bureau conducted a small survey of the children in secure units in England on March 31, 1994. The author suggests that the mental health services must play a better coordinated role with social services. He also believes that the central government's emphasis should be on resourcing, encouraging, and, where necessary, requiring provision of alternatives to child custody.

Access centres are a recent development in service provision for families facing difficulties over child contact following divorce or separation. The author has worked for over two years as a volunteer at an access centre and provides a personal view of key issues in the organisation and operation of access centres. Discussion of detailed case material throws light on the paradoxes which arise when a pro-access ideology is exercised in an informal setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very little attention has been paid to the needs of prisoners' children, in spite of the large numbers involved. Whilst to some extent this is due to the hidden nature of the problem, it is also influenced significantly by the fact that the justice system — based on concepts of acquitting the innocent and punishing the guilty — cannot afford to accept publicly that many tens of thousands of children are punished more by the sentence than is their imprisoned parent. Often the prisoner's child may also suffer more than the victim of the parent's crime. Media attention to the sentencing of a mother by Judge Pickles brought into the open a subject which is mostly hidden or ignored. This article explores the issues and argues for a new approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on the England and Wales High Court decision in R. v. Lowestoft Magistrates' Court in context to the grant of anonymity order to a claimant charged with being drunk whilst in charge of a child, children's welfare, and freedom of expression. In the case, the Court found the claimant guilty for the second time under the British Licensing Act and refused claimant's order under the British Children and Young Person's Act to abate the impact of press release on her daughter.

The article presents a discussion on the issue of relocation in the Family Law Act in Australia. It also offers a discussion on how and whether relocation should be defined. It also reviews the existing law on relocation and invites proposals for the amendment of the Family Law Act concerning the issue on relocation. It also outlines the proposed reforms to the family law contained in the Family Law Amendment Bill 2005 or the Shared Parental Responsibility bill. It also presents the law in other jurisdictions such as United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, and some states of the United States.