Everyday reference for the busy children practitioner

With a renewed focus on the 26-week limit on care proceedings and new guidance being issued frequently, this latest edition of Hershman and McFarlane makes a welcome addition to the busy practitioner’s bookshelf, briefcase or backpack. First published in 2000, the Handbook has a devoted following, covering as it does all the relevant core material.

Incidentally, it weighs in at an impressive 1.15kg – but compared to the Red Book (without Supplement) at 1.83kg, this is still pretty good for the wellbeing of family lawyers! (The weighing of the books was completely unscientific and undertaken on my kitchen scales).

Children Act Handbook

The Handbook is divided into four parts: Statutes, Statutory Instruments, Practice Guidance and Miscellaneous (a useful calendar for calculating 26 weeks or other dates for directions). Inevitably, the focus of this Handbook is on children proceedings, notably the Adoption and Children Act 2002, the Children Act 1989 and the Children and Families Act 2014.

Described as ‘specifically designed for use in court’, the book certainly meets that description, covering the key legislation and related guidance. The practice guidance is helpful, encompassing a wide range of the regular business encountered by the busy children practitioner.

The Statutory Instruments section includes the Family Procedure Rules 2010, the relevant core rules and practice directions. The rules and practice directions included are indexed between p316-330, which is slightly confusing as their extent is not easily ascertained from the main index at the front of the volume. But this aspect of the book is its great strength: making essential information available in an easy-to-carry and accessible manner.

 

Charlotte Collier is a consultant solicitor at Taylor-Rose MW Solicitors

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