NCJ Number
130751
Journal
Lay Panel Magazine Volume: 25 Dated: (April 1991) Pages: 3-5
Date Published
1991
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article explains provisions of the Children Act 1989, an addition to the family law of England and Wales designed to counter child abuse.
Abstract
The act gives priority to the welfare of the child and to nonintervention. It provides for a checklist that gives statutory effect to the principle that the child's wishes and feelings should be determined and taken into account in any family court action. Also, the act contains a new principle of parental responsibility whose intent is to focus on parents' responsibility to provide constructive child rearing rather than on parents' right to have possession of their children. The act makes local authorities more accountable, as they must consult parents at every stage of their decisionmaking, and they must take proper account of the views that are expressed. They must establish complaint procedures with an independent element that preserves the right of parents and care-givers to argue their case. The Children Act also aims at reducing delay in case processing; it requires the court to draw up a timetable for the case and gives the court authority to issue directions intended to ensure that the timetable is followed by all the parties. Other changes underway in child abuse cases in England and Wales are dispensing with the hearsay rule in child cases and providing for a child to give evidence on video.