Practical Child Law for Social Workers

Clare Seymour · Richard Seymour

Feb 2013 · Learning Matters

About this ebook

The English legal system in the area of social work with children and families can be bewildering and complex and it is vital therefore that any textbook on the subject uses case law, case studies and research to critically-engage social workers and students alike. This book does just that - by examining, and putting into clear practical context, the current law and policy relating to social work with children and families. A guide for both students on placement as well as Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs) entering their first roles within children and families teams, Practical Child Law for Social Workers is essential reading for a fast-paced and complex area of social work.

About the author

Clare Seymour is a registered social worker and qualified teacher at post-16 level. From 1998 until retiring in September 2009 she was senior lecturer in social work at Anglia Ruskin University, where she taught social work law, professional accountability and communication and interviewing skills to social work students at undergraduate and master’s level. Since leaving Anglia Ruskin University, she continues to work as a practice educator for social work degree students and as external examiner for the social work degree at Reading University. Her social work experience includes 16 years of local authority social work, latterly in a child care team where she had a wide experience of court work, and bereavement support within a general practice.

Richard Seymour is a senior circuit judge assigned to the Queens’ Bench Division of the High Court of Justice. He has a first class honours degree in law from Cambridge University. He was in practice as a barrister until 2000, was appointed QC in 1991, and has been a president of Mental Health Review Tribunals. He jointly edited Kemp & Kemp The Quantum of Damages, 4th ed, 1975, contributed the legal chapters to publications on practice and procedure for the quantity surveyor and the architect in practice.