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Myths & Practices
A national survey of the use of experts in childcare proceedings

	Price: £5.95	BAAF, 1999 ISBN 978-1-903699-00-3

"I hope that all who read this excellent study will redouble their efforts to overcome all the systemic weaknesses here exposed. Failure to do so will amount to a disturbingly complacent willingness to tolerate poor inter-professional practice and maladministration of justice."
Mervyn Murch Cardiff Law School

Following the Children Act 1989, many concerns have been voiced about the use of experts in care proceedings. This research, the first national survey in England and Wales of the use of experts, explores a range of practices by courts, guardians ad litem, local authorities and parents. It confirms an increase in the use of experts but locates that trend within a wider discussion about substantial changes to law and legal procedures which have not previously been addressed.

In a detailed analysis of 557 cases, the study identifies the major specialists providing expert evidence, the patterns that are emerging, and subsequent professional practices. It also explores guardians- views about Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and provides an alarming picture of the problems associated with many locally based services.

The findings reveal that much needs to be done in terms of approving the court management of cases and the provision of appropriately trained and experienced experts in different fields. It also carries an important message for central government: the family justice system cannot improve in the absence of attention to the provision and training of child and adolescent psychiatrists and child protection work within a multidisciplinary approach.