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Children's Welfare and the Law: The Limits of Legal Intervention
Children's Welfare and the Law The Limits of Legal Intervention Author:Michael King, Judith Trowell In this timely and controversial book, Michael King and Judith Trowell uncover a growing concern that the real needs of children are being obscured by the very legal system which claims to protect their interests.The authors identify a link between the law's colonization of child welfare and the steady depletion of resources throughout the 1980s... more ». Drawing upon a wealth of case histories, they highlight the limitations of the law as an institution for promoting children's welfare, arguing that many cases need never come to court if adequate preventative facilities were made available. The authors use the experience of other countries to demonstrate how, when the legal system is not used as the principal definer of child welfare issues, conflicts can be minimized and resources more firmly directed at promoting the well-being of children and their families.Following recent legislative changes in England and Wales which aim to set the agenda for child welfare law in the 1990s, this important and at times uncomfortable book challenges the very assumptions on which this legislation is founded. It will have wide repercussions throughout the legal and child welfare fields.Written in a lively and accessible style, Children's Welfare and the Law offers evidence and insight which will be of immense value to students and professionals in social work, law, child mental health and social administration and to all those involved in promoting children's welfare.« less