decision making

This legislation sets out the types of contract that may be made by young persons. The Act defines the age of legal capacity and particular exceptions. The Act provides young people with powers of consent. For example, a young person may consent on his own behalf to any surgical, medical or dental procedure or treatment where, in the opinion of a qualified medical practitioner attending him, he is capable of understanding the nature and possible consequences of the procedure or treatment.

In April 1997 the Social Services Inspectorate undertook an inspection of the child protection services in Cambridgeshire's Social Services Department. This inspection took place at the request of the Parliamentary Under Secretary in the Department of Health following the non-accidental death of Rikki Neave, a child on Cambridgeshire's child protection register. The 1997 inspection identified serious deficiencies in the standard of child protection services in Cambridgeshire.

This report has been written by Save the Children, an international child’s rights organisation, working in Scotland, the UK and in over 60 countries to achieve a better world for children. It discusses the Community Partners Programme, which was set up to explore if active community participation was an effective means of countering children and young people’s social exclusion and assisting them in securing their place as full citizens alongside others.

Accountability and intervention is suitable for use towards the end of law learning but before summative assessment. It explores the impact of law on how social workers work, in particular: how legal rules influence the process of decision-making (rather than content); and how social work values influence our approach.

For some families leaving a child alone is a necessity because of lack of other options. For others it is a symptom of parental neglect. Understanding the differences between these situations is a challenge for child protective services agencies. This is the report of a study to examine how local child welfare agencies respond when they receive reports of children who are taking care of themselves.