Mavis Maclean

Women's childhood experience of parental separation and their subsequent health and socioeconomic status in adulthood

The long term consequences for women of parental divorce and separation in childhood are explored using data from a national, prospective, longitudinal survey. In comparison with women who suffered no parental loss, parental divorce is associated with lower educational attainment and occupational status, poorer mental health, higher alcohol consumption and higher rates of remarriage. Links with earlier signs of emotional disturbance and current levels of stress are explored.

How Does an Inquiry Inquire? A Brief Note on the Working Methods of the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry

This paper draws on the authors experience as a panel member for the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry into the care of children receiving complex cardiac services at the BRI between 1984 and 1995 to describe the process of inquiry and to reflect on recent moves towards a more managed court system, in both civil and criminal jurisdictions. We may begin to question the traditional sharp distinction between adversarial and inquisitorial court processes and to consider the similarities as well as the differences.

The Making of the Child Support Act of 1991: Policy Making at the Intersection of Law and Social Policy

The legislative process has not traditionally been a central concern of sociolegal scholars, but has remained within the territory of political science. This paper argues that sociologists of law have an important contribution to make to developing the sociology of the legislative process, and that an understanding of legal processes and ways of thinking could enrich the study of public policy from the development of a new policy idea, through the strategy for preparation and, finally, the parliamentary management of a new statute. The child support legislation of 1991 is taken as a example of this process, and is of particular interest because it lies at the intersection of legal and social policy concerns. The Child Support Act removed responsibility for the assessment and enforcement of financial support for children by absent parents from its traditional place within the court system and placed it in an administrative agency closely linked to the Department of Social Security. The laudable aim of strengthening parental responsibility has gone almost unmentioned, and the new system has been widely criticized in the press, leading to protest marches being banned in central London, and even accusations of its contributing to acts of suicide. This paper addresses the question of how the legislation developed, and how some of the differences between legal and social welfare approaches contributed to subsequent criticism of a scheme widely accepted in broad principle but often unacceptable in individual cases. In 1990 divorce, alimony, property settlements, and support for children in the United Kingdom were the province of solicitors, barristers, and judges with perhaps occasional advice from accountants. By the time of writing, four years later, the Lord Chancellors Department has published a Green Paper, entitled Looking to the Future,1 which takes forward the Law Commissions proposals2 to move to divorce on application over a period of time, to sever the link between lawyers and divorce, and to offer advice and information to couples approaching divorce with the aim of enabling them to manage their own affairs. In cases where a dispute arises about financial

Rolling back of the state in child care? Evidence from urban China

Purpose – The economic reforms which turned the centrally planned economy to a market economy have profoundly changed the tripartite relationship between the state, work unit, and citizen in urban China and brought significant changes to the institutional care provision for young children. The aim of this paper is to investigate the changes to the institutional care since 1980, with particular emphasis on the most recent years from mid‐1990s, and explore how the institutional care has changed over the recent decades without a clear institutional basis.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis draws on second‐hand materials from published literature, a range of longitudinal national and local statistics and policy documents, and also on first‐hand information which was collected in Beijing from in‐depth interviews with key informants and case studies of different kinds of kindergartens.Findings – The paper finds that the previous work‐unit based public care system has changed to a much more complicated ca...

The Obligations and Expectations of Couples Within Families: Three Modes of Interaction

What kinds of family structures emerge after a couple relationship is formed? How are obligations perceived towards the family of origin and the family of the partner? How are obligations perceived towards the older generation and towards children? How are conflicts of interest approached or resolved? How are the obligations arising from these personal relationships affected by gender, ethnicity, culture and religion? This paper reports some findings from a qualitative study of 39 men and women aged 25–40 which investigates the social context for the legal regulation of couple relationships; whether marriage, cohabitation or civil partnerships.

Numbers and Questions: The Contribution of Social Science to Understanding the Family, Marriage and Divorce

In the Introduction to this volume we are advised that just opening a newspaper serves as a reminder of the problems, big and small, with which society is beset: ‘Public issues and private troubles are as interlaced as ever’, and while a response is required, ‘solutions need to be based on accurate and suitable information’. This volume demonstrates what social science can offer towards identifying social issues, and offers solutions for those problems which are visible in public discourse. We would like to suggest that contemporary work in the social sciences has an additional, perhaps even more important, role to play — namely in the search not only for answers to known problems, but in going on to develop the next set of questions. As Martin Rein said in the introduction to his classic text on Social Policy: Issues of Choice and Change, ‘what is needed in social policy is not so much good tools but good questions’ for developing the forthcoming policy agenda (Rein, 1970). So we begin by looking critically at the way social science is used to identify current problems, and then go on to consider how social scientists can also contribute to formulating the next set of policy questions. We hope to demonstrate both the present and potential contribution of social science to a better understanding of society, and to the more effective development of policies for the family.

Family justice in hard times: can we learn from other jurisdictions?

This paper presents the views of scholars from Australia, Canada, Scotland, France and Sweden on the current working of the Family Justice system in England and Wales, and comparing the experience here with those using the system in their own jurisdiction using vignettes describing a typical divorce and child protection case. The authors identify any special features of their own system which might be of interest here.

Law and child development in the UK and the US

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 childrens 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.

JSWFL Editorial 38(3)

During this period of austerity and continuing pressure on access to justice in family matters in this jurisdiction, we are pleased to be able to include good news from Australia in this issue, before turning to more mixed messages from UK research on parenting and mental health. Rosemary Sheehan from Monash University presents the findings of her evaluation of “Legal responses to child sexual abuses in the Children’s Court in Australia: study findings on a case management approach”. She describes the challenge these cases present in every jurisdiction, but suggests that adversarial court process in such highly conflicted matters where proof is required but findings of fact are so problematic, as used in Australian state magistrate’s courts, has not been helpful. The Children’s Court in Victoria has recently achieved real benefit for families through adopting an intensive case management approach. Guided by an expert steering committee, the Children’s Court of Victoria developed a “D list” of child sexual abuse cases to be handled proactively by a single judge, employing intensive case management. The new process draws on the experience of the Federal Court of Australia’s Magellan case management system in operation since 1998 for better postseparation parenting dispute management where domestic abuse was an issue. This process used judgeled tightlymanaged timelimited procedures, supported by Family Consultants. Through observation in court in Victoria, a survey of court records and interviews with stakeholders and focus groups, Sheehan and colleagues found magistrates taking a key role in gathering facts, speaking directly to parties, and establishing a calmer atmosphere in court with earlier resolution of the cases. We ask whether this be considered not just as a matter of effective case management, but also of a move towards an inquisitorial approach ...... good when its good but dependent on high quality magistrates? Sadly this positive Australian report is counterbalanced by a worrying report from this jurisdiction where Maebh Harding and Anneka Newnham have documented concerns about the overlap between public and private law in post separation parenting disputes. These issues were raised by Sir David Norgrove in his 2012 Family Justice Review. This research substantiates the importance of questions raised there. In looking at the records of 197 Section 8 cases, the authors found local authority involvement in 56: in 13 the local authority was simply helping with information, and in 16 the case was truly hybrid with the local authority supporting a parenting arrangement, perhaps by helping with supervised contact. But in the largest group of 27 cases the matter had been diverted by the local authority from care proceedings to a private law case of contact and residence. This would have resulted in substantial cost savings for the local authority at a time of acute financial pressure. But given that legal aid is available to parents in public law cases but not in private law unless there is evidence of a threat to a child from one of the parties, this development raises serious questions about representation. In 19 cases the proceedings had been initiated by the local authority, minimising state intervention which we might applaud, but the authors ask whether the court should have the power to refer some of these cases to public law. There are vulnerable and dysfunctional mothers without representation ... another part of the LASPO Gap. A third article from Conor O’Mahony and colleagues from Cork again looks at the boundaries between state and family responsibilities, looking at how the voice of parents is heard in child care proceedings in the District Court. Catholic social teaching has strong views about the

Old and at home: The legal framework, policy imperatives and individual choices which affect the way people manage their property after retirement

Abstract The elderly population is increasing in diversity of needs and resources. There is a social policy imperative to encourage use of equity in the home to fund care, legal and financial frameworks to facilitate this, but little take up. This paper reports a small empirical study, carried out by the Oxford Socio-Legal Centre with support from the Nuffield Foundation of the individual decisions made by older home owners in managing their property after retirement.