This is a review of “Child Care and Protection: Law and Practice” by Safda Mahmood and Julie Doughty (7th edn, 2024, Wildy, Simmonds & Hill) by Dominik Morton, Barrister at St John’s Chambers.
A little bit about me first of all. I am a barrister at St John’s Chambers in Bristol. I was called to the Bar in 2018. Since that date, I have had a private and public child law practice and have dealt with a variety of different cases. Therefore, offering to review this book made sense and provided me with a helpful reminder of legal topics, old and new, with accompanying analysis and law.
What should be noted from the get-go is that this book has been written by two very experienced authors. Both authors have written extensively on a variety of topics and issues relevant to this book. Perhaps more importantly however is the fact that both authors have been practitioners for a considerable amount of time. Therefore, the breadth of legal topics covered within this book, along with their application and use within practice is striking and very impressive. It was pleasing to note that this book has been written with practitioners in mind and has a particular focus on public and private child law.
The book itself does not cover every single topic that has or might crop up in family cases. However, in fairness to the authors, it would be extremely difficult to cover everything in sufficient detail and for it to remain concise and digestible in order for practitioners to use whilst working from home, in chambers or firms, or at court.
What the book does do is capture all of the key areas and strands of child protection in order for practitioners to refer to. More importantly, it has covered a huge number of legal changes since the author’s last publication back in 2019, with specific references and analysis on updating legislative provisions, regulations, practice guidance, and case law.
Each chapter of the book deals with a different topic but all chapters seem to be interlinked in some way, thus making it smooth and logical to follow. What is very helpful to a practitioner is that each chapter has a break-down of the issues that one must bear in mind and makes specific reference to legislation, regulations, practice guidance, and case law (old and new) on each point. This makes the job a lot easier, especially when one is aware of a specific provision or judgment on a particular point, but one cannot recall the title or name of that provision or judgment. Having all of these key provisions and judgments, along with specific references and paragraph numbers, in one place and easily accessible is ideal and makes it very handy especially when one is out and about.
The authors have also provided references to additional case law, practice guidance, and even legal research for those who have a bit more time to prepare and conduct their own independent research. These references are provided but not expanded upon in detail, which means that the book remains concise and to the point, whilst being as comprehensive as possible.
What is also lovely to see within this book is that the authors have provided some helpful critical analysis on more recent topics and issues, with specific reference to provisions and case law to back up what is being said. Two examples of this are (1) funding implications on experts following the 2022 Legal Aid Agency guidance, and (2) deprivation of liberty cases and the ongoing difficulties particularly with regard to available placements. There is also consideration of topics that are still being grappled with to this day. One example being the issue of transparency within the family court and how this is changing and is likely to change in the future.
The use of flow-charts, list of abbreviations, and glossary of key terms is very much welcomed and is a helpful reminder to all practitioners of procedure and terminology used in and out of court which can get a little convoluted and difficult to follow at times.
Given that this book is aimed at practitioners, I was of course expecting to see some application of the law in practice. What I didn’t expect to see is that each chapter has a section dedicated solely to “Practice and Procedure”. On top of that, there is a specific chapter (chapter 11) which deals with “Instructions and Case Preparation in Family Proceedings”.
The whole of chapter 11, along with the specific sections within each chapter devoted to practice and procedure allow practitioners who have been in the game for some time to reflect on how they approach cases. For new practitioners who are feeling overwhelmed and dauted by the idea of being in a family court, the focused sections within each chapter on practice and procedure, and chapter 11 in its entirety, provide a helpful nudge in the right direction and provide a brilliant foundation to what will hopefully become a successful practice.
Overall, it is probably safe to assume from the review thus far that I am very impressed with this book and will certainly be using it in my day-to-day practice moving forward.
The only point which I would like to make by way of constructive criticism is that there are sections within this book which are, at times, difficult to read and follow. This is not a consistent issue that runs throughout the book, but rather crops up every now and then by way of wordy and dense paragraphs. This does make certain sections of certain chapters not as digestible as the authors may have hoped for and might cause some practitioners who are frantically trying to find a specific reference to miss key and relevant information.
Everything else is spot on with this book. Clearly, the authors have done a lot of hard work to tie everything together within this edition. All practitioners have to do is read it, apply it, and reap the benefits. I therefore would definitely recommend this book to other practitioners.
This book is available to purchase here for £45.