Book Reviews

This is the fourth edition of this popular work. There are chapters dealing with all aspects of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) and the volume concludes with the authors’ consideration of where family justice is heading in the 21st century. The appendices include a full annotated text of ChA 1989, along with accompanying secondary legislation, the Public Law Outline and experts’ practice direction. The relevant caselaw is summarised and subjects are easy to reference via the clear and comprehensive index.
Baroness Hale is the consulting editor and begins this edition on the Children Act setting out the three fundamental principles of ChA 1989 and concluding that the principle that requires particular emphasis today is that the decisions about the least advantaged home and families should be treated as those of the most advantaged.

This theme runs throughout the book as the authors deal with the Act in detail and explain and include updating caselaw and updating provisions