BOOK REVIEW
CHILD CARE AND PROTECTION
Law and Practice
6th edition
By Safda Mahmood and Julie Doughty
ISBN: 978 0 85490 268 2
WILDY SIMMONDS AND HILL PUBLISHING
www.wildy.com
AN EXCELLENT CONCISE AND PRACTICAL GUIDE FROM WILDY
REVIEWING THE LAW AND PRACTICE OF CHILD CARE PROTECTION
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator
This splendid work entitled “Child Care and Protection: Law and Practice” has been published recently by Wildy, Simmonds and Hill Publishing in a new sixth edition. The authors are solicitor Safda Mahmood, and lecturer Dr Julie Doughty who give us a practical and concise guide to the areas surrounding the Children Act 1989 and subsequent child protection legislation, guidance and its current case law. Undoubtedly, this is a book which will be of great assistance to practitioners and to unrepresented parties involved in these family law proceedings. It will also be very useful for those new to these types of proceedings.
What we have in addition to a simple, readable statement on the general principles of the law relating to child-care and protection, are valuable insights into assessments, care planning, expert evidence, taking instructions, case preparation and courtroom skills. It is very much the hallmark of Wildy publications that they appeal to a wide audience of readers and this book is no exception, proving its popularity with a sixth edition.
The book has been extensively updated for 2019, the new edition examining at a reasonable length, the details of all significant developments since the introduction of a “single family court” from 2014. Mahmood and Doughty have included useful commentary on the following areas: the new procedures on control of expert evidence; the duration of care proceedings; and changes to children's care plans.
In addition, the book reviews the introduction of the revised Practice Direction 12A (Care and Supervision Proceedings and other Part 4 Proceedings: Guide to Case Management) and introduction of 'child arrangements orders' - the Child Arrangements Programme (PD 12(B) - with accompanying new forms and documents, and an examination of the revised PD12J on Domestic Abuse and Child Arrangements. We found this information particularly helpful to go with the more detailed information contained in the Red Book 2019 – The Family Court Practice.
This paperback version of the book was published as a sixth edition on 16th August 2019.
