This book provides in-depth studies of some of the leading family law cases which have shaped modern family law in England and Wales. Family law cases tend to raise highly controversial issues, often on striking facts, frequently provoking wider social debate and/or extensive publicity. Consequently, the landmark cases chosen for this collection provide considerable scope, not only for doctrinal analysis and explanation of the importance and impact of the decisions, but also for in-depth examination of the social or policy developments that influenced them. The stories behind the cases provide a fascinating insight into the complexities of family life and the drama that can be found in the family courts of England and Wales.

Do you fear your divorce will ruin your children's lives forever? Feeling helpless and overwhelmed with what to do or NOT to do with your children in regard to the divorce? Psychotherapist Dilyse Diaz created The Do's and Don'ts of Divorce as an invaluable blueprint to keep your sanity, protect your children, and live in peace. This tool kit provides crucial perspectives from children of divorce that will help you empathize with your own children, and alleviate your painful feelings of guilt, shame, and loss. More than ever, your children need security, support and stability. Your decision to invest in your lives will create the peace, love and encouragement that you all need to survive.

This long-awaited second edition of our best-selling book has been fully updated by its expert editors, Dr Russell Wate QPM and Nigel Boulton, both former police officers and current specialist consultants in safeguarding. It has been considerably expanded to include new legislation and guidance (including full compliance with Working Together 2018), as well as to tackle contemporary issues that are of much concern to workers in today's safeguarding arena, including: * Lived Experience of Children * Gangs and county lines * Unaccompanied minors * Private fostering * Modern slavery * Edge of care and transitioning * Young carers * GDPR * Safeguarding in non-statutory settings * Harmful cultural practices The book is a vital aid to all those working in the field of child and adult services. It provides a valuable overview of the major and very different areas of public protection practice. It aims to translate the processes, guidelines and language to enable them to have a workable understanding of the varied areas of practice that may impact their own working lives.

The abduction of a child by another family member is one of the most devastating crises that a parent could ever encounter. The impact on the abducted child is also traumatic, as he or she grapples with a host of feelings, above all, a sense of betrayal and loss of trust. Nor are these the only persons harmed by family abduction. Brothers and sisters, grandparents, and other extended family, as well as friends are also impacted. It is for these victims that The Crime of Family Abduction: A Child's and Parent's Perspective was written with the help of individuals with intimate knowledge of this crime. Protecting the well-being of children and their families lies at the very heart of the mission of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. We offer this resource in the hope that it will help victims and their families in coping with the aftermath of family abduction-a crime in every sense of the word. For when we minimize the criminal nature of any abduction, we maximize the trauma experienced by its victims. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that as many as 200,000 children are victims of family abduction each year. Although the majority of abducted children are taken not by a stranger, but by a parent or family member, the issue of family abduction remains laden with misconception and myth. Serious missing-child cases that have devastating effects on the child are too often seen as divorce and custody matters, something private that the public and law enforcement should not concern themselves with. The truth is that family abduction can be as physically dangerous and even deadly for the child victims as any other form of child abduction. Most often, however, the worst damage is imperceptible to the eye, occurring deep within the child, leaving traces that may last a lifetime. This publication offers insights into what it means to be abducted by a family member. Written from the perspective of the child and searching parent, it is designed to help you, the reader, understand the unique characteristics of family abduction and the nightmare that they have experienced. Although the individual circumstances surrounding the authors' cases show the multifaceted diversity of family abduction, the one thing they have in common is that they were all missing child cases. The child victims in these cases were concealed by their abductor, hidden not just from their searching family, friends, schools, and community but also from the justice and child protection systems. The six primary contributors to this document-four adults who were victims of family abduction as children and two searching parents-are active in the missing child community. The former abducted child contributors are members of Take Root, an organization composed of former abducted children that provides peer support and advocates on behalf of child victims. The parent contributors are either members of Team HOPE (Help Offering Parents Empowerment), a support network for parents of missing children, or active with nonprofit organizations that work around the issue of missing children. Misperceptions about family abduction can potentially cause further trauma to the abducted child. These misperceptions can also lead to an increase in the incidence and duration of family abductions. We hope that sharing these stories will provide a new understanding of the devastating psychological harm and physical dangers that children who are abducted and concealed by family members often face. Our objective is to increase understanding of the crime of family abduction and empower the reader to thoughtfully assist in the immediate and long-term recovery of a child. Whether you are the searching parent, an abducted or former abducted child, a family member, a professional responder, a neighbor, a teacher, or an advocate, you can begin to comprehend what is happening and why a child-centered response, as outlined throughout this book, is so important.

This book provides a comprehensive, cutting-edge look at the problems that impact the way we conduct intervention and treatment for youth in crisis today-an indispensable resource for practitioners, students, researchers, policymakers, and faculty working in the area of juvenile justice. Understanding Juvenile Justice and Delinquency provides a concise overview of the most compelling issues in juvenile delinquency today. It covers not only the range of offenses but also the offenders themselves as well as those impacted by crime and delinquency. All of the chapters contain up-to-date research, laws, and data that accurately frame discussions on youth violence, detention, and treatment; related issues such as gangs and drugs; the consequences for scholars, teachers, and students; and best practices in intervention methods. The book's organization guides readers logically from the broader definitions and parameters of the study of juveniles to the more specific. The volume leads with an explanation of the relationship between victimization and juvenile behavior and sets up boundaries of the arenas of delinquency-from the family to the streets to cyberspace. The book then focuses on more specific populations of offenders and offenses, including recent, emerging issues, offering the most accurate information available and cutting-edge insight into the issues that affect youth in custody and in our communities. Provides insights into juvenile justice from contributors and editors who have extensive experience in teaching, researching, and writing on the subject Represents an ideal teaching text for courses in juvenile justice-a staple topic in all criminology and criminal justice college programs Presents analysis and evaluation of techniques used and programs employed, enabling readers to be better advocates for law and policy impacting youth Includes discussion questions appropriate for classroom settings and lists of additional resources, related websites, and supporting films that guide students in investigating the subject further Supplies updated data and information on policy and law that will serve as a vital resource for students writing papers or scholars teaching in the field of juvenile justice

Book & CD-ROM. The Home Visiting Program is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in partnership with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Congress created the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (Home Visiting Program) to support voluntary, evidence-based home visiting services for at-risk pregnant women and parents with young children up to kindergarten entry. The Home Visiting Program builds upon decades of scientific research showing that home visits by a nurse, social worker, early childhood educator, or other trained professional during pregnancy and in the first years of life improve the lives of children and families by preventing child abuse and neglect, supporting positive parenting, improving maternal and child health, and promoting child development and school readiness. Research also shows that evidence-based home visiting can provide a positive return on investment to society through savings in public expenditures on emergency room visits, child protective services, special education, as well as increased tax revenues from parents' earnings. This book examines the first findings from the Home Visiting Program.

The issue of same-sex marriage generates debate on both the federal and state levels. Either legislatively or judicially, same-sex marriage is legal in more than a dozen states. Conversely, many states have statutes and/or constitutional amendments limiting marriage to the union of one man and one woman. These state-level variations raise questions about the validity of such unions outside the contracted jurisdiction and have bearing on the distribution of state and/or federal benefits. As federal agencies grappled with the interplay of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the distribution of federal marriage-based benefits, questions arose regarding DOMA's constitutionality and the appropriate standard (strict, intermediate, or rational basis) of review to apply to the statute. In United States v. Windsor, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on benefits for legally married same-sex couples. However, the Court indicated that it was taking no position on a state's authority to forbid same-sex marriages. Lower courts have interpreted Windsor broadly and have found such bans to violate equal protection and due process principles. This book provides a legal background after United States v. Windsor. The book provides background on, and analysis of, significant legal issues surrounding the same-sex marriage debate. It provides background on the constitutional principles that are often invoked in attempting to invalidate same-sex marriage bans -- namely, equal protection and due process guarantees. It discusses key cases that led to the existing circuit split on the constitutionality of state same-sex marriage bans. Finally, this book explains the central issues in the circuit split and analyses how the Supreme Court might resolve them on appeal.

Compares today's same-sex marriage movement to the experiences of black people in the mid-nineteenth century. The staggering string of victories by the gay rights movement's campaign for marriage equality raises questions not only about how gay people have been able to successfully deploy marriage to elevate their social and legal reputation, but also what kind of freedom and equality the ability to marry can mobilize. Wedlocked turns to history to compare today's same-sex marriage movement to the experiences of newly emancipated black people in the mid-nineteenth century, when they were able to legally marry for the first time. Maintaining that the transition to greater freedom was both wondrous and perilous for newly emancipated people, Katherine Franke relates stories of former slaves' involvements with marriage and draws lessons that serve as cautionary tales for today's marriage rights movements. While "be careful what you wish for" is a prominent theme, they also teach us how the rights-bearing subject is inevitably shaped by the very rights they bear, often in ways that reinforce racialized gender norms and stereotypes. Franke further illuminates how the racialization of same-sex marriage has redounded to the benefit of the gay rights movement while contributing to the ongoing subordination of people of color and the diminishing reproductive rights of women. Like same-sex couples today, freed African-American men and women experienced a shift in status from outlaws to in-laws, from living outside the law to finding their private lives organized by law and state licensure. Their experiences teach us the potential and the perils of being subject to legal regulation: rights-and specifically the right to marriage-can both burden and set you free.

Decriminalizing Domestic Violence asks the crucial, yet often overlooked, question of why and how the criminal legal system became the primary response to intimate partner violence in the United States. It introduces readers, both new and well versed in the subject, to the ways in which the criminal legal system harms rather than helps those who are subjected to abuse and violence in their homes and communities, and shares how it drives, rather than deters, intimate partner violence. The book examines how social, legal, and financial resources are diverted into a criminal legal apparatus that is often unable to deliver justice or safety to victims or to prevent intimate partner violence in the first place. Envisioned for both courses and research topics in domestic violence, family violence, gender and law, and sociology of law, the book challenges readers to understand intimate partner violence not solely, or even primarily, as a criminal law concern but as an economic, public health, community, and human rights problem. It also argues that only by viewing intimate partner violence through these lenses can we develop a balanced policy agenda for addressing it. At a moment when we are examining our national addiction to punishment, Decriminalizing Domestic Violence offers a thoughtful, pragmatic roadmap to real reform.

Lost Childhoods focuses on the life-course histories of thirty young men serving time in the Pennsylvania adult prison system for crimes they committed when they were minors. The narratives of these young men, their friends, and relatives reveal the invisible yet deep-seated connection between the childhood traumas they suffered and the violent criminal behavior they committed during adolescence. By living through domestic violence, poverty, the crack epidemic, and other circumstances, these men were forced to grow up fast all while familial ties that should have sustained them were broken at each turn. The book goes on to connect large-scale social policy decisions and their effects on family dynamics and demonstrates the limits of punitive justice.

Since its inception, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Juvenile Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has initiated and supported a broad range of research, demonstration, evaluation, and training and technical assistance initiatives to prevent and reduce gang crime. A central focus of these anti-gang efforts is to support community endeavors to provide youth with a safe environment in which to grow up. As part of that comprehensive initiative, OJJDP launched the Gang Reduction Program in 2003. The multimillion-dollar initiative was designed to reduce gang crime in targeted neighborhoods by incorporating research-based interventions to address individual, family, and community factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency and gang activity. The program leveraged local, State, and Federal resources in support of community partnerships that implement progressive practices in prevention, intervention, suppression, and reentry. Best Practices To Address Community Gang Problems: OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model provides communities considering implementing the comprehensive gang model with critical information to guide their efforts. The Report describes the research that produced the model; outlines best practices obtained from practitioners with years of experience in planning, implementing, and overseeing variations of the model in their communities; and presents essential findings from evaluations of several programs that demonstrate the success of the model in a variety of environments. OJJDP commends the progress made in the demonstration sites, and we wish them continued success. We remain committed to assisting other communities in assessing their gang problems and developing a complement of anti-gang strategies and activities to address this complex challenge. This Report provides guidance for communities that are considering how best to address a youth gang problem that already exists or threatens to become a reality. The guidance is based on the implementation of the Comprehensive Gang Model (Model) developed through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and tested in OJJDP's Gang Reduction Program. The Report describes the research that produced the Model, notes essential findings from evaluations of several programs demonstrating the Model in a variety of environments, and outlines "best practices" obtained from practitioners with years of experience in planning, implementing, and overseeing variations of the Model in their communities. The Model and best practices contain critical elements that distinguish it from typical program approaches to gangs. The Model's key distinguishing feature is a strategic planning process that empowers communities to assess their own gang problems and fashion a complement of anti-gang strategies and program activities. Community leaders considering this Model will be able to call on the OJJDP Strategic Planning Tool at no cost (http: //www.iir.com/nygc/tool/default.htm). OJJDP's Socioeconomic Mapping and Resource Topography (SMART) system is another online resource available through the OJJDP Web site (go to http: //www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ojjdp, and select "Tools"). The main section of the Report presents best practices for the Comprehensive Gang Model and highlights results of a survey and a meeting of practitioners regarding their experiences in implementing the Model. This section contains specific practices that work best in a step-by-step planning and implementation process for communities using the Comprehensive Gang Model framework and tools.

Every year, hundreds of children in the United States are victims of international parental kidnapping- a child's wrongful removal from the United States, or wrongful retention in another country, by a parent or other family member. Parents and other family members left behind may be overwhelmed by feelings of loss, anguish, despair, and anger-as well as confusion and uncertainty about what can be done in response. In December 1999, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention invited a small group of left-behind and searching parents to participate in a planning and development meeting. Each one had experienced firsthand the heartbreak of having a child abducted to another country or wrongfully retained abroad. Some of them had recovered their children, while others had not. They willingly shared their knowledge of international parental kidnapping-gained at tremendous personal cost- to help other parents of abducted children understand what can be done to: Prevent an international parental kidnapping; Stop a kidnapping in progress; Locate a kidnapped or wrongfully retained child in another country; Bring an abductor to justice; Recover a kidnapped or wrongfully retained child from another country; Reestablish access to a child in another country. This guide imparts the group's practical wisdom and the hope that other parents will not have to experience the confusion and discouragement these parents did when it was not clear what to do or whom to turn to when their children were kidnapped. The group offered its suggestions for preventing international kidnapping and gave detailed advice to maximize the chance that children who are kidnapped or wrongfully retained will be returned to this country. The guide provides descriptions and realistic assessments of the civil and criminal remedies available in international parental kidnapping cases. It explains applicable laws and identifies both the public and private resources that may be called on when an international abduction occurs or is threatened. It gives practical advice on overcoming frequently encountered obstacles so that parents can get the help they need. The guide prepares parents for the legal and emotional difficulties they may experience and shares coping and general legal strategies to help them achieve their individual goals, whether they involve recovering a child or reestablishing meaningful access to a child in another country. Despite the difficulties that may lie ahead and the disappointment some parents may experience, it is important not to become discouraged. Stay hopeful. Many things can be done to prevent or to resolve an international parental kidnapping. This guide will help you organize your response.

Canadian parents facing the removal of children from their home are in for an uphill battle, and it's important that their interests be protected. In Who Takes This Child?, author Allan Dare Pearce discusses the child protection laws, agencies, and processes in Canada. For more than thirty years, he has counseled and represented parents in their battles with the child protection authorities, preparing pleadings, arguing motions, and conducting trials.

In Who Takes This Child?, he shows what happens in typical child protection cases in Canada. Pearce discusses the overarching agency that's assigned to protect children; how the agency gets involved; the process of apprehension and temporary (or interim) care; plans of care; how parents' capacity is assessed; the issues of mental health, disabilities, and the system; parents with addiction and parents who abuse; the trial; and strategies for specific situations.

Through examples and personal accounts, Pearce communicates the importance of understanding the child protection process so parents can keep custody of their children and avoid the foster care system.

The aim of this book is to explore what response the law has or should have to different family practices arising from cultural and religious beliefs. The issue has become increasingly debated as western countries have become more culturally diverse. Although discussion has frequently focused on the role Islamic family law should have in these countries, this book seeks to set that discussion within a wider context that includes consideration both of theoretical issues and also of empirical data about the interaction between specific family practices and state law in a variety of jurisdictions ranging from England and Wales to Bangladesh, Botswana, Spain, Poland, France, Israel, Iran and South Africa. The contributors to the 17 chapters approach the subject matter from a variety of perspectives, illustrating its complex and often sensitive nature. The book does not set out to propose any single definitive strategy that should be adopted, but provides material on which researchers, advocates and policymakers can draw in furthering their understanding of and seeking solutions to the problems raised by this significant social development.

The book is an extract from my doctorate degree thesis dealing with the formal requirements for the celebration of marriage: a comparative study of canon law, Nigerian statutory law, and customary law. It is universally recognized that consent of parties brings about marriage. But for consent to result in marriage, it must be validly exchanged/manifested. Formal requirements for marriage celebration deals with valid exchange of consent. The work thus concentrates on what makes a valid matrimonial consent under the Nigerian law.