Justice,speed and thoroughness in child protection court proceedings: Messages from England |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Africa Health Research Institute, Durban, South Africa;2. Human and Social Development Research Program, Human Science Research Council, Durban, South Africa;3. MRC/Developmental Pathways to Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;4. Agincourt MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;5. School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;6. Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, Oxford, UK;7. Population, Policy and Practice Programme, University College London, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK;8. School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa;9. CAPRISA Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa;10. Institute of Health and Wellbeing, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK;11. Royal Hospital for Sick Children, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK;1. Physics Department, Electronics and Instrumentation Group, University of Coimbra, Portugal;2. Intelligent Sensing Anywhere, Portugal;3. Cardiology Department, Hospital and University Coimbra Center, Portugal;1. Institut de Médecine Légale, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France;2. Laboratoire AMIS, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France;3. Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Yakut Research Center of Complex Medical Problems, Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia;4. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, North-Eastern Federal University, Sakha Republic, Russia;5. Institut des sciences humaines et des problèmes des peuples minoritaires du Nord, Branche Sibérienne de l''Académie des sciences de Russie (Yakoutsk), Russia;6. Institut Médico-Légal, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France;1. University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Human Development, 3210 Tolman Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA;2. University of Cambridge, Institute of Criminology, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 9DA, United Kingdom;3. Department of Psychology, Kingston University, London, Penrhyn Road Campus, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE, United Kingdom |
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| Abstract: | This paper reports and assesses the outcomes of a pilot programme in London to reduce the duration of child protection court proceedings. The initiative, known as the ‘Tri-borough Care Proceedings Pilot’, was intended to reduce the usual duration to 26 weeks, ahead of national moves in that direction. The paper locates the issue of court delay in a wider political and child welfare context, highlighting the dilemmas of balancing principles of family autonomy and child safety, support and protection, thoroughness and speed, welfare practices and court processes. It compares the policy, legal and court contexts in the USA and England, showing that what might appear at first sight a local initiative actually relates to a much wider, long-lasting and international debate about how to reach important decisions about children in a reasonable timescale. The paper concludes that there will always be, and must always be, tensions between the courts, national government and local welfare agencies. The pilot shows that greater speed can be achieved by a concerted effort from all the agencies, but at the same time the division of powers and responsibilities is a bedrock for protecting individual rights in liberal democratic societies. Welfare and legal practitioners alike need to appreciate this tension in child protection policy and practice, and resist recrimination when there are differences of opinion. Knowing that other countries face the same challenges can help to promote a more realistic and sophisticated understanding of the dilemmas and the implications for practice, and so help to bring about better decisions for children. |
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