Limits of State Power & Private Rights

Dr Lauren Devine, Associate Professor of Law, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK is a Barrister writing about State power, private rights and child protection. Lauren is Principal Investigator of the Economic and Social Research Council funded project ‘Rethinking Child Protection Strategy’.

• IntroductionExploring the issue: State power and private rightsCentral themes and structure of the bookChapter 1 - Development of the State’s role: child welfare & family policingThe State’s developing role in children’s welfare: good intentions and opposing narrativesThe development of child welfare principlesThe development of State principles for the protection of childrenMoving from parental autonomy to parental responsibilityThe refocusing debateSafeguarding and early interventionConclusion: the modern categorisation of levels of surveillance and interferenceChapter 2 - Defining and measuring the problemDefining child abuseIssues of measuring the prevalence of, and predicting, child abusePrevalence: measuring of the amount of child abuse in EnglandMeasuring the outcomeRisk prediction: can child abuse be predicted and prevented?Conclusion: issues of measuring successChapter 3 – Identifying families for policingThe modern surveillance role of the state: identifying children for referralIntroducing mass surveillance and recording of information about children: part of the e-Government agendaPolicing by surveillance of all families: intelligence gathering and its limitsConclusion: the challenge of balancing consent and coercion in the surveillance frameworkChapter 4 - The policing of parents: social work involvementSocial work response to referrals: State power and private rightsThe framework of assessmentThe Munro review of child protection: final report, a child centred system and changes to Working Together to Safeguard ChildrenThe Public Law Outline 2014The process of assessmentConsensual assessmentCoercive assessmentConclusion: issues of safeguards and controls over State powers of assessmentChapter 5 – Paradigms, policy & policingSmith’s schema: exploring the ‘fractured lens’The stages of the assessment procedures in ‘child protection’ and ‘safeguarding’ schemaConclusion: implications for assessmentChapter 6 – The balance of State power and private rights: considering protections for children and parentsMoving from ‘ownership’ to ‘responsibility’: disowned children and the burden of policing parental responsibilityWhat is the legal and policy framework of ‘child protection’ and ‘safeguarding’ trying to achieve?By what mechanisms is the legislative and policy framework trying to achieve its purpose?The issue of families harmed by State surveillance and assessmentDefining harmUnsubstantiated allegations and unfounded concernsConclusion: power imbalance and individual harmChapter 7 - The question of remediesComplaints procedures and Judicial ReviewDefamationThe European Convention on Human Rights 1950 and the Human Rights Act 1998Common law negligenceConclusion: remedies – an inadequate positionChapter 8 – Reforming policy: the politics of changeThe question of reformFramework for a new approachPrivacy, data and consent: taking the Anderson recommendations seriouslyReferrals: improving methods of making and recording referralsAssessments: a bespoke investigatory body and code of practiceOutcomes: issues of exoneration and redress in unsubstantiated casesSpecific remedies in unsubstantiated casesConclusion: rebalancing – the basis for reformConclusionIndex