Judith Masson

Promotion of children's rights and prevention of child maltreatment

In medical literature, child maltreatment is considered as a public-health problem or an issue of harm to individuals, but less frequently as a violation of childrens human rights. Public-health approaches emphasise monitoring, prevention, cost-effectiveness, and population strategies; protective approaches concentrate on the legal and professional response to cases of maltreatment. Both approaches have been associated with improvement in outcomes for children, yet maltreatment remains a major global problem. We describe how childrens rights provide a different perspective on child maltreatment, and contribute to both public-health and protective responses. Childrens rights as laid out in the UN convention on the rights of the child (UNCRC) provide a framework for understanding child maltreatment as part of a range of violence, harm, and exploitation of children at the individual, institutional, and societal levels. Rights of participation and provision are as important as rights of protection. The principles embodied in the UNCRC are concordant with those of medical ethics. The greatest strength of an approach based on the UNCRC is that it provides a legal instrument for implementing policy, accountability, and social justice, all of which enhance public-health responses. Incorporation of the principles of the UNCRC into laws, research, public-health policy, and professional training and practice will result in further progress in the area of child maltreatment.

The State as Parent: The Reluctant Parent? The Problems of Parents of Last Resort

This paper will explore the idea of the local authority as a reluctant parent. It will consider the extent to which this reluctance is produced by the care proceedings system and its consequences for children. Local authorities are both expected to refrain from intervening (care proceedings are a measure of last resort) and to be fully prepared for intervention (whilst leaving children with their parents). Amongst the themes which will be developed here are the impact of the juridification of social work and the emphasis on the courts for holding local authorities to account the balance between voluntary accommodation and compulsory care and the problems of resourcing care services. Its main focus will be on children who enter care because of abuse or neglect. Its thesis is that the conflicting expectations on local authorities, resource constraints, and considerations of legal process make them reluctant parents.

Private and public voices: Does family group conferencing privilege the voice of children and families in child welfare?

This article examines the use of family group conferencing in child protection and considers its ability to privilege the voice of children and families who reach the attention of statutory child protection services. The family group conference (FGC) is a process of family decision-making in child protection, originally developed in Aotearoa New Zealand, and now practised in many countries including the UK. Examining the literature and research relating to the FGC it considers whether the approach provides a genuine context of participation and partnership, or whether it has become an instrumental professionally led practice as families are charged with greater responsibilities for children at risk.

Police protection - protecting whom?

Police protection (Children Act 1989, s.46) is a long-established police power allowing the removal or detention of children suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This article outlines the findings of research into its use and discusses how it is viewed by the police and social workers. It explores how the use of the power affects relationships between parents and children, between families and social services, and between social services and the police. Rather than merely being about protecting children, the power operates to protect the police, social services and families; both police officers and social workers acknowledge this. It also re-balances relationships between parents and children, and between families and social services. This changing balance is not only in the way that might be expected (removing power from children and families and giving it to the state); alliance with the police can assist children and parents to make demands on social services.

The quality of care proceedings reform

The Court of Appeals decision in Re B-S re-states the test for leave to oppose adoption. Its implications extend further, asserting the courts role in setting standards for social work, encouraging challenge to local authority practice, and potentially making it harder to complete care proceedings in 26 weeks.

Adoption: future legal issues

In a climate of increasing financial constraints, Judith Masson identifies some of the challenges still surrounding adoption since the implementation of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, in particular the need to simplify current adoption systems in order that children for whom adoption is the plan can be placed in a permanent family without delay.

Achieving positive change for children? Reducing the length of child protection proceedings: lessons from England and Wales

Court decisions are required to remove children, compulsorily, from their families, and approve permanent care arrangements which restrict or terminate parents’ rights. The children involved are mostly young, have experienced serious abuse or neglect and may require permanent placement away from their parent(s) for their remaining childhoods. In England and Wales, justice to parents has dominated the rhetoric about these proceedings; this has resulted in lengthy proceedings, long periods of uncertainty for children and reduced placement options. In order to reduce delays, reforms in England and Wales have set a time limit for the completion of care proceedings. The Children and Families Act 2014 limits proceedings to 26 weeks; approximately 60% of care proceedings are now completed within this period. This article will discuss the impact of these reforms on decision-making for children, questioning whether they achieve both good decisions for children and justice for families. It uses the findings of an ESRC-funded study: ‘Establishing outcomes of care proceedings for children before and after care proceedings reform (2015–2018)’.

What are Care Proceedings Really Like

Judith Masson explains why care proceedings are like they are and what needs to be done to make them more efficient. She draws on evidence from three research studies and concludes that the present complexity arises from several factors: the failure to appreciate the significance of negotiations before and during hearings; tardiness at all stages of the process; the extensive use of experts; difficult practice area; and assumptions about what is best for children. Recommendations for change are discussed.