Adoption and special guardianship are two options to provide secure family homes for children who have been made subject to care orders and cannot return to their parents. The legal processes for adoption are complex and designed to meet children’s welfare needs while respecting the rights of adults. However, adoption is controversial, especially when courts override birth parents’ objections. Children often require ongoing support because of their experiences in early life and potential issues of post-placement contact with birth families. Fixed boundaries between state intervention and private family life in adoption can no longer be assumed.
Chapter
11. Adoption and Special Guardianship
Julie Doughty
Chapter
5. The Roman Family
This chapter is devoted to the Roman law of persons and family. As in modern legal studies, so in Roman law, it is the first branch of private law that students are taught, primarily in order to understand the concept of ‘legal personhood’. This chapter covers the paterfamilias (head of the household); marriage and divorce; adoption; and guardianship. The head of the household was the eldest living male ancestor of a specific family. He had in his power (potestas) all descendants traced through the male line (and also exercised forms of control over other members of the household). Roman law accorded the head of the household extensive legal entitlements, not only vis-à-vis the members of the household, but also its property. The motivation of this state of affairs lies in the recognition in Roman law of the family unit as legally significant entity.
Book
Polly Morgan
Family Law illustrates the diverse applications of modern family law through real-world scenarios. It starts off by looking at marriage and civil partnership. It moves on to financial provision on divorce and cohabitants and remedies not dependent on divorce. It looks at financial support for children and the various protections in place for domestic abuse. Parenthood and parental responsibility are examined in detail. Children’s rights and welfare are also looked into. Finally, the book considers private law disputes and children and child protection in terms of state support and care, supervision, and adoption.
Book
Ruth Gaffney-Rhys
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam and assignment questions. Each book includes key debates, typical questions, diagram answer plans, suggested answers, author commentary, and tips to gain extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Family Law offers expert advice on what to expect from your family law exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by an experienced examiner, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical family law exam questions; structure a good answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; make your answer stand out; and find relevant further reading. After an introduction on exam skills for success in family law, chapters cover: marriage, civil partnerships, and cohabitation; void, voidable and non-marriage; divorce and judicial separation; domestic abuse; family property; financial remedies and child support; parenthood and parental responsibility; children’s rights and private law; international relocation and abduction; public law and adoption; mixed topic questions and skills for success in coursework assessments.
Chapter
11. The Law Relating to Children: Public Law and Adoption
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam and assignment questions. Each book includes key debates, typical questions, diagram answer plans, suggested answers, author commentary, and tips to gain extra marks. This chapter deals with the public law relating to children, contained in Parts III, IV, and V of the Children Act 1989, and the law relating to adoption, under the Adoption and Children Act 2002. The questions contained in this chapter are a mixture of essay and problem questions that focus on: emergency protection for children, i.e. police protection, emergency protection orders, and local authority enquires; care, supervision, and education supervision orders; the difference between adoption and special guardianship orders and finally, the requirements and procedures for adoption.
Book
Rob George, Sharon Thompson, and Joanna Miles
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. Drawing on extensive experience, the authors offer a detailed and authoritative exposition of family law illustrated by materials carefully selected from a wide range of sources. The book’s principal aims are to provide readers with a thorough understanding of family law in a way that stimulates critical reflection. Readers are encouraged to consider how and why the law has developed as it has, what policies it is seeking to pursue, whether it achieves the right balance between the rights and interests of individual family members and the wider public interest, and how it operates in practice. This edition provides updates and revised discussion on: the advent of mixed-sex civil partnership; a thoroughly overhauled chapter on divorce law, in light of the reform effected by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020; new laws relating to domestic abuse, introduced by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021; a revised analysis of Gillick competence and children’s autonomy rights in light of recent case law; and detailed consideration of the latest developments in relation to contact and domestic abuse after Re H-N (Domestic Abuse: Findings of Fact Hearings) [2021] EWCA Civ 448. Updated case law includes Guest v Guest [2022] UKSC 27, Bell v Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust [2021] EWCA Civ 1363, R (McConnell) v The Registrar General for England and Wales [2020] EWCA Civ 559, Re H-N (Domestic Abuse: Finding of Fact Hearings) [2021] EWCA Civ 448, Re H-W (Care Proceedings) [2022] UKSC 17, and Re A, B and C (Adoption: Notification of Fathers and Relatives) [2020] EWCA Civ 41.
Chapter
8. Family life
Gina Clayton, Georgina Firth, Caroline Sawyer, and Rowena Moffatt
This chapter focuses on non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals who wish to live permanently with family members who are settled in or are nationals of the UK. The first part of the chapter covers human rights, particularly Article 8 and its impact on family life. The second part of the chapter considers the immigration rules. The family members of those coming to work or study and of refugees are also briefly considered. It examines marriage-related applications, that is, applications to join a spouse, fiancé(e), civil, or long-term partner. It considers the rules relating to adult family members and children, the family life of those with limited leave, and refugees and asylum seekers.
Chapter
8. Adoption
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on adoption as a means to terminate the legal relationship between a child and their birth parents. It considers the human rights aspects of adoption and different types of adoption and discusses adoption proceedings in England and Wales under the Adoption and Children Act 2002. The chapter then explains the role of local authorities and adoption agencies under section 2 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, and placement for adoption, parental responsibility, and parental consent. It also highlights the welfare of children as considered by an adoption agency or a court when making a decision affecting the child. Finally, the chapter examines alternative orders: child arrangements order, parental responsibility, special guardianship order, and no order. This edition now includes reference to the Special Guardianship (Amendment) Regulations 2016.
Chapter
12. Child Protection: Care, Supervision, and Adoption
This chapter looks at what happens when compulsory intervention to protect children, in the form of care or supervision applications, is needed. It considers the legal tests, the processes, and the practicalities involved in proceedings. It analyses the legal test for making the child subject to a care or supervision order—that the child in question is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm attributable to their care or to them being beyond parental control—before turning to what happens when this test is met. As far as the court is concerned, the best interests of the child are paramount. The court has to consider all realistic options for the child’s future, including a return to the birth family, foster care, special guardianship, supervision, and adoption. It looks in depth at the law surrounding adoption and the human rights implications of changing a child’s family.
Chapter
7. The family justice system
This chapter discusses the family justice system. It considers the role law plays in regulating the family. The chapter covers the institutional framework of family justice and its transformation. It notes the creation of the Family Court and the pressures on that court. It reviews the remedies which are available in that court, in particular those relating to the protection of children. The chapter briefly considers adoption. It considers other matrimonial matters, in particular the introduction of no-fault divorce and the financial effects of divorce. It considers policy relating to child support, and notes changes to ways of dealing with domestic violence and abuse. It considers the legal practitioners involved in family law issues and how they seek to deal with family disputes on a less adversarial basis. The effect of changes to legal aid for funding for family law cases is discussed.
Chapter
9. Becoming a Legal Parent and the Consequences of Legal Parenthood
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter examines how the status of ‘legal parenthood’ is acquired under English law. It considers different concepts of parenthood and possible approaches to determining legal parenthood; the current legal framework for identifying a child’s legal parents where a child is conceived through natural procreation; and the legal and social challenges raised by the use of assisted reproduction techniques and surrogacy.
Book
Susan Heenan and Anna Heenan
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. Family Law Concentrate is supported by extensive online resources to take your learning further. It has been written by experts and covers all the key topics so that you can approach your exams with confidence. The clear, succinct coverage enables you to quickly grasp the fundamental principles of this area of law and helps you to succeed in exams. This guide has been rigorously reviewed and is endorsed by students and lecturers for level of coverage, accuracy, and exam advice. It is clear, concise, and easy to use, helping you get the most out of your revision. After an introduction, the book covers: families, civil partnerships, and cohabitation; nullity; divorce, dissolution, and judicial separation; domestic abuse; financial provision on divorce or dissolution; Children—private law; Children—public law; adoption; and child abduction. This, the fifth edition, has been fully updated in light of recent developments in the law, including the extension of civil partnerships to heterosexual couples, the Law Commission reviews of the law of surrogacy and marriage and proposals to reform the law of divorce and domestic abuse.
Book
Stephen Gilmore and Lisa Glennon
Gilmore and Glennon’s Hayes and Williams’ Family Law, now in its seventh edition, provides critical engagement with key areas of family law, with detailed, yet accessible, expositions of case law, key legislation, and debates affecting adults and children. The volume includes ‘talking points’ and focused ‘discussion questions’ throughout each chapter which highlight areas of debate or controversy. A section entitled ‘New to this Edition’ provides a detailed account of developments since the last edition.
