This is a handout for a one-off lecture I gave to / discussion I led with undergraduate Law students in 2015-16 on how to approach essays in their Family Law exam.
Lecture Handouts
Child Protection: A Critical Introduction – Lecture series
These are the handouts for the overview lectures I provide on child protection: a critical introduction. I cover the following issues:
- Issue 1 – A historical introduction to child abuse and child protection;
- Issue 2 – Key features and values of the current English approach to child protection [handout for issues 1 and 2 here];
- Issue 3 – General principles of child protection in the Children Act 1989;
- Issue 4 – Part III of the Children Act 1989: Local authority support for children and families [handout for issues 3 and 4 here];
- Issue 5 – Part V of the Children Act 1989: Investigation and assessment [handout here];
- Issue 6 – Part IV of the Children Act 1989: Compulsory intervention [handouts here, here, here, and here, concluding handout combines with issue 7, below];
- Issue 7 – Challenging the local authority [handout for the last part of issue 6, as well as issue 7 here];
- Issue 8 – Outcomes for children in care;
- Issue 9 – Serious case reviews: findings over time [handout for issues 8 and 9 here];
- Issue 10 – Reports, inquiries, and reviews;
- Issue 11 – Conclusion on the current approach;
- Issue 12 – Academic criticisms of the present approach and ideas for reform [handout for the final three issues here].
Children’s Rights – Lecture series
These are the handouts for the overview lectures I provide on children’s rights: theory and legal examples. I cover the following issues:
- Issue 1 – The nature of childhood [handout here (also covering part of issue 2)];
- Issue 2 – Three concepts that could govern the legal regulation of children – duty, rights, and welfare [handout here (covering the remainder of issue 2)];
- Issue 3 – Sources of children’s rights: (1) United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child [handout here] and (2) the European Convention on Human Rights [handout here];
- Issue 4 – Does it matter which approach we adopt? (rights, welfare, or duty?) [handouts here and here].
Parenthood: Legal Parental Status and Parental Responsibility – Lecture series
These are the handouts for the overview lectures I provide on parenthood: legal parental status and parental responsibility. I cover the following issues (issues 1-3 were lectured on this year; issue 4 was included last year; and issue 5 two years ago):
- Issue 1 – Who or what is a parent? [handout here];
- Issue 2 – Legal motherhood [handouts here and here];
- Issue 3 – Legal fatherhood [handouts here and here];
- Issue 4 – Parental responsibility [handouts from last year here and here];
- Issue 5 – The relationship between legal parental status and parental responsibility [handout from two years’ ago here].
Financial Provision – Lecture series
These are the handouts for the overview lectures I provide on financial provision upon relationship breakdown. The focus here is on the breakdown of status relationships; the final issue, which compares status and non-status relationships was discussed as part of last year’s lectures:
- Issue 1 – (Preliminary matters and) the debate over the normative basis of ancillary relief [handout here];
- Issue 2 – Outline of governing legal principles and case law, including the extension of governing legal principles to marriage between same sex couples and civil partnership [handouts here and here];
- Issue 3 – Private ordering and procedural aspects [handout here];
- Issue 4 – Reform of the law governing ancillary relief [handout here];
- Issue 5 – Comparison between the legal regime governing the financial consequences of the breakdown of status relationships and the approach taken to non-status relationships [comparison chart here and handout here].