Child Law (principles Of Law)

CP Cavendish Publishing Limited CHILD LAW TITLES IN THE SERIES Administrative Law Business Law Child Law Civil Liberties Commercial Law Company Law Conflict of Laws Constitutional & Administrative Law Contract Law Criminal Law Criminal Litigation and Sentencing Criminology Employment Law English Legal System Environmental Law Equity & Trusts European Community Law Evidence Family Law Intellectual Property Law International Trade Law Jurisprudence Land Law Public International Law Law of Tort Revenue Law Succession, Wills & Probate ‘A’ Level Law - Paper I ‘A’ Level Law - Paper II CP Cavendish Publishing Limited CHILD LAW Professor Duncan John Bloy, BA, LLM Head of the School of Law, Glamorgan First published in Great Britain 1996 by Cavendish Publishing Limited, The Glass House, Wharton Street, London WC1X 9PX Telephone: 0171-278 8000 Facsimile: 0171-278 8080 © Bloy, D 1996 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and copyright owner. The right of the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Any person who infringes the above in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. Bloy, Duncan Child Law – (Lecture Notes Series) I Title II Series 344.20615 ISBN 1 874241 59 7 Cover photograph by Jerome Yeats Printed and bound in Great Britain Preface This book is intended to be read by undergraduates studying family law and child law modules as part of their degree studies. It may prove to be useful to those studying for social work qualifications. The modular system of degree study places students under intense pressure to the extent that they are often unable to read as extensively as they would like. Wherever possible, therefore, I have tried to offer guidance on what are the crucial issues and cited relevant snippets of text from various law reports in order to illustrate the point or provide the necessary authority. I have attempted to present the text in such a way as not to encourage students simply to remember and regurgitate information and I hope that lecturers and tutors will find that the book underpins the content of their courses rather than prescribing what ought to be taught. I offer my sincere thanks to Mrs Glenys Williams for helping to provide some coherence to the draft manuscript and to Mrs Carol Coote of Mid Glamorgan Adoption Agency for her invaluable assistance in the preparation of the chapter on Adoption. I would like to dedicate this book to my parents Jack and Gladys Bloy for whom this year has extra special significance. I have endeavoured to state the law as at November 1995. Duncan Bloy Llanblethian Vale of Glamorgan Contents Preface Table of Cases Table of Statutes 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO CHILD LAW 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The hearing of child law cases 1.3 The role of parents 1.4 The child’s views 1.5 Child abduction 1.6 The Children Act 1989 1.7 Adoption 1.8 Conclusion Summa