‘Should be required reading for those who care about how society treats our most vulnerable citizens.’ – Louise Allen

When the system fails the parents, how can it protect the children?




Welcome to the secretive world of the Family Court.



What's it like to act for a father who has recently overcome his drug problem but risks losing his beloved son to foster care?


Or to represent a young mother whose abusive childhood has left her depressed and struggling to cope, to the point where the local authority is seeking to persuade the Family Court to place her small children for adoption?


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


In this hard-hitting account of her work representing parents in care proceedings in the Family Court, child protection lawyer Teresa Thornhill conveys the dilemmas inherent in the job and shows how our under-resourced system of child protection – in both its social work and legal aspects – often fails to provide support that could enable the most vulnerable parents to continue to care for their children.


‘A vivid account of all the terrible things that can happen to children and all the challenges facing lawyers and social workers in our child protection system which is meant to help and protect them but which struggles to do so. It doesn’t have to be this way so what can be done about it?’ – Rt Hon Lady Hale DBE, Formerly President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.


‘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.