Legal Context of Social Work - Childen Acts 1989 and 2004 - Term Paper Example

«LEGAL CONTEXT OF SOCIAL WORK – CHILDREN ACT 1989 AND 2004» Contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………2 2. Working of the Legal System in England…………………………………………………….2 3. Children Act 1989 & 2004: origin and rationale………………………………………......4 4. Evaluation of the Act’s Provisions……………………………………………………………7 5. Gibbs Family Case Study……………………………………………………………………… References………………………………………………………………………………………. 1. Introduction The protection of children and their rights is the sole responsibility of not only their immediate relatives but also of the society as a whole. In view of this concept various countries across the globe have acts in place which guarantee the safeguarding of children’s rights. The need for such an act is felt especially in view of the increasing rate of crime and violence against children who are often victims of neglect and abuse from their families as well as the society in general. The framing of appropriate acts seeks to ensure adequate protection to such children and protect their respective individual rights. Similar acts have been implemented in England for the protection of children and child care which include The Children Act 1989 and 2004 which are discussed in detail in the following sections. 2. Legal System in England The civil and criminal courts which overlook the implementation of justice, of Her Majesty, in England and Wales are established and governed by Law of England and Wales and are a subsidiary of the U.K Parliament. The house of Lords is the court of highest appeal, whose decisions are binding on all the lower courts, and functions as a court of last resort within the United Kingdom. The court of Appeals is the second highest court of appeal which is second in power only to the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords which is further categorized into Civil and Criminal division whereby the civil court hears decisions from the high court and the county court while the criminal division hears decisions from the crown court. The High Court deals with cases of high significance and exercises a supervisory jurisdiction over all the subordinate courts and tribunals. The Queen’s Bench (or King’s Bench in case when the monarch is a King) hears appeals that encompasses a wide range of contract law and cases involving personal injury / general negligence and is entrusted with an additional responsibility of acting as a supervisory court. The crown court is a criminal court of the appellate as well as original jurisdiction which handles a restricted number of cases concerning civil business both at first instance as well as on appeal. It also hears appeals against decisions made in the magistrate’s courts as well as those forwarded by them for sentencing. The county court and the magistrate courts are subordinate courts which form the lowest level of court in England and Wales whereby the county court deals with civil cases and the magistrate court deals with criminal cases. 3. Children Act 1989 & 2004: Origin and Rationale The Children Act 1989 This act is a British Act of Parliament which was introduced on October 14, 1991 with a view to invigorate the practices and proceedings pertaining to the wellbeing of young children below the age of eighteen of England and Wales. The primary aim of this act was based on the principle that the basic underlying duty of nurturing of children rests with the parents / guardians and hence the interests of the children, in most cases, would be best safeguarded if they are allowed to grow in their own families. But following alarming revelations concerning child abuse and the deaths of children under parental care, the government was forced to enact laws that sought to protect their rights and ensure their safekeeping and prevent abuse – physical or otherwise, while in their own homes. The children Act 1989, thus seeks to strike a perfect balance between emphasizing the impropriety of the family and empowering parents to utilize their parental responsibilities on one hand and on the other encourage state support and safeguarding the children from abuse and mistreatment in cases where parents failed or were deemed incompetent to meet the needs of their children. This Act, thus offered and encouraged assistance from local authorities to families where the children were identified to be “in need” (Section 17, Children Act, 1989) and also modified the practice as well as procedures designed to protect the children in cases concerning child neglect, abuse or maltreatment. The act, along with stressing the basic responsibility of the parents also levied additional burden on all the local agencies as well as professionals who are involved in child protection work. The law is a significant step towards ensuring protection of rights of the children and is a direct repercussion of the extensive debates and public consultation of law and legal procedures that called for substantial changes in the field. The children Act 1989, which was implemented in England and Wales, included comprehensive modifications to the previous legislation which include emphasizing the autonomy of families by defining the concept of parental responsibility, availing assistance from local authorities especially for families whose children are identified as “in need”, and ensure adequate protection of children who are or likely to suffer significant harm. The main aim of this act was to seek adequate coordination between private and public law, obtaining better balance between safeguarding children and empowering their parents to claim state intervention, reassure greater partnership between legal authorities and parents, foster the use of voluntary arrangements and redistribute the legal framework with a view to manage family proceedings. The basic principles underlying seeks to ensure that the safety of children must be the predominant aspect during trials; and the concept of parental rights replaced that of parental responsibility. The children were given equal rights of representation separate from their parents in legal proceedings. The local authorities were entrusted with a set of responsibilities and duties to protect and identify children in need and promote their welfare. The Children Act 2004 This act received royal assent on 15th of November, 2004 and was a follow up of the Green paper Every Child Matters, as a formal response to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report published by the government in September 2004 (Office of Public Sector Information, 2008). This act seeks to guarantee a voice for children and young people and offers the establishment of a Children’s Commissioner under section 2 of the Act. The Children’s Commissioner would be entrusted with the responsibility of promoting responsiveness of views and interests of children below the age of 18 in England. The commissioner will be delegated adequate powers in order to enable him to conduct a detailed inquiry into individual cases of wider relevance. He shall be required to report to the Parliament via secretary of state. The Children Act 2004 confers additional duties on the agencies requiring them to assist the parents in improving the well being of children. This duty seeks to offer a basis for integrated planning and commissioning by way of local partnerships and promoting co-operation within such local authorities for safeguarding the rights of the children. The term well being refers to physical, emotional as well as mental health, safeguarding the children from potential threats, and ensuring proper education, training and recreation for the children. For the purpose the local authorities and statutory partners are entrusted with adequate authority to accelerate co-operation and provide assistance in collecting funds. In England, partners include police, district councils, Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts, as well as Learning and Skills council. The duty of these partners is to ensure protection of children’s rights and encourage preventive action at the right time. It includes setting up of local databases for storing all the relevant information about the children that may assist the local authorities in serving them better through sharing of such information concerning child safety. The act requires setting up of Local Safeguarding Children’s Board for protecting the children’s rights and ensuring effective implementation of the laws laid down in that behalf. The children’s service authorities are required to appoint a Director of children’s services as well as a Lead Member on behalf of the National Health Services. It stipulates the formation of a framework which is designed in consultation with the Chief Inspector of schools in association with the Commission for Social Care and Inspection and Commission for Health Care Audit and Inspection which provides for inspection and joint area reviews. 4. Critical evaluation of the Acts Provision The Children Acts 1989 and 2004 brings Britain closer to the United Nations convention that seeks to ensure Child care rights on account of the various provisions of the act such as putting the child first while dealing with cases concerning them in the courts of law, stressing the importance of the upbringing of children in their own homes as much as possible, preventing children from being taken away by strangers without the permission of their parents or guardians except in cases where such an act was done to protect the child from potential harm, delegating responsibility on the local authorities of identifying the child in need and offering adequate assistance, working together with the parents of children who are identified as “in need. The Children Act was heralded as the most reformative and comprehensive of all child care laws in England till date however, it is often accused of having a critical shortage of resources to cater to the wide range of services and assistance offered in the act. The act that was tailored to ensure child care and protection of children’s rights, and ensuring their safety from probable harm, and entrusts responsibility on the social bodies is in turn varied in its interpretations. It challenges the legal framework on a range of issues concerning the effectiveness of the social policy, socio – economic divisions and attitudes towards the children as well as their families in general. The social workers act as mediators between the families of affected children or children in need and the local authorities who monitor the behavior of the children and their families and are entrusted with adequate responsibilities and powers to initiate active steps for preventing any untoward incidences of child abuse and initiate prompt legal action against the perpetrators of such crimes against children. In view of such definition of child care and protection of rights of children any laws passed for the protection of children against abuse should focus on promoting the interest of the children rather than narrowing down the definition by concentrating merely on the perceived shortcomings of the parents and guardians of the children who are subjected to such abuse. 5. Gibbs Family Case Study This case study deals with a family of seven with four young children all below the age of 10. The parents Michael, age 29, and Kylie, age 25 were slow learners and displayed mild learning disabilities. The major points of concern, in this study are the children are reported to display major abnormalities in their conduct such as inappropriate dressing, a severe lack of proper hygiene, inappropriate dietary habits, and poor health. According to the Children Act 1989, which focuses on a coordinated effort of both the parents of the children as well as local authorities with a view to protect the children from potential harm defines the term “significant harm” as a threshold of initiating appropriate action and conducting proper investigation to analyze and understand the causes of such an incident and take appropriate and timely action accordingly. The types of abuses identified by this act include physical, emotional, mental, sexual, and neglect. The older children Tiffany and John are reported to turn up inappropriately dressed and dirty most frequently, which is a case of sheer neglect and considered an offence according to the definition of this act which states that persistent failure to attend to the child’s basic physical and psychological needs which is likely to cause significant harm to him / her in the near future and involves failure on the part of the parents to provide adequate food and clothing and neglect of the child’s basic needs. According to Section 31 (10) of the Children Act 1989, the term significant harm is defined as: 'Significant Harm' turns on the question of the harm suffered by a child in respect of its health and development compared with the health and development reasonably expected of another child It has also been reported that the family lives in utterly poor condition and both the parents are in poor incompetent to provide reasonable standard of living for their children. Considering the above facts, the children of the Gibbs family can be categorized as “in need”. According to Part III, section 17 (10) of the Children Act 1989 (OPSI, 2008) the children can be defined to be “in need” if: (a) he is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him of services by a local authority under this Part; (b) his health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without the provision for him of such services; or (c) he is disabled, The first two conditions are satisfied in case of the Gibbs family and hence the children could be identified as in need. According to Schedule 2 part 1, section 4, Prevention of neglect and abuse of the Children Act 1989: (1) Every local authority shall take reasonable steps, through the provision of services under Part III of this Act, to prevent children within their area suffering ill-treatment or neglect. (2) Where a local authority believe that a child who is at any time within their area— (a)is likely to suffer harm; but (b)lives or proposes to live in the area of another local authority References The Court System of England and Wales (2008), viewed: December 13, 2008, from: Children Act 1989, (2008). Office of Public Sector Information, Section 17, viewed: December 13, 2008 from: < http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1989/ukpga_19890041_en_4#pt3-pb1-l1g17> Tricia David, (1994). Working Together for Young Children: Multi-professionalism in Action, Routledge, Pp. 153 – 155 Eekelaar, J., Dingwall, R. (1990). The Reform of Child Care Law: Practical Guide to the Children Act, 1989, Routledge The Children Act 1989: Guidance and Regulations, Great Britain Dept. of Health, The Stationery Office, 1991. Read More