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In Harm’s Way

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What to expect

The Family Court makes life-changing decisions about the many vulnerable children in England and Wales behind closed doors. It’s an institution tasked with protecting the youngsters most at risk, but how often does it make the right decisions?

A high number of children grow up in miserable and damaging circumstances. The failure of our child protection system and universal services – health, housing, children's social care, education – to provide them and their families with sufficient help to turn their lives around has been exacerbated by austerity-driven funding cuts and the pandemic.

Now operating at absurd speed in order to reduce the backlog, the court is dependent on often poor-quality information from overworked and under-trained social workers.

Teresa Thornhill provides an invaluable insight into the system and asks difficult questions, while offering much-needed solutions to the problems. This timely and urgent book will enlighten you about the court's processes but leave you worried for the children most at risk in our society.

Critics Review

  • ‘Should be required reading for those who care about how society treats our most vulnerable citizens.’ Louise Allen, Sunday Times bestselling author

    ‘This timely book resonated with my experiences as a children’s social worker and probation officer; it’s a refreshingly honest account of our dysfunctional child protection system.’ Joanna Hughes, former children’s social worker and probation officer.

    ‘This thought provoking book should be ‘required reading’ for all involved in the safeguarding of children and young people in England today. The author has had a lifetime of hard-earned experience in working as a lawyer in the Family Court. She distils this experience into a comprehensive yet easily readable account of how the Court operates, illustrating the processes with case histories of the experiences of such children. Her empathy and compassion for them shines through as do her positive suggestions for improving the care and best interests of highly vulnerable families.’ Professor Sir Al Aynsley – Green Kt, former first Children’s Commissioner for England and Professor Emeritus, University College London.

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