LW3CFS: Children, Families and the State

Module code: LW3CFS

Module provider: School of Law

Credits: 20

Level: Level 3 (Honours)

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Professor Amanda Millmore, email: a.millmore@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module looks at how child protection law is used to protect and promote the best interests of children in the context of local authorities’ duties to assist children in their area, care proceedings and adoption, as well as the use of private child law under section 8 of the Children Act 1989 to divert cases away from care proceedings. There is a slight overlap with LW3FAM Family Law on how disputes over children are decided. However, LW3CFS focuses on public child law and adoption, which are not covered in LW3FAM. Both modules can be taken independently.

Students will have the opportunity to develop their presentation and research skills and to work in small groups as part of their assessment. The course is engaging, challenging and encourages student participation through a range of hands-on activities.

Aims:

To offer students new learning opportunities through a more practical and critical examination of public child law, adoption and private law diversion. To embed employability skills through authentic assessment, allowing students to develop new skills alongside a deeper understanding of the law.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Identify the substantive law used to resolve cases involving children in need of protection, including local authority support and intervention care proceedings, adoption and private law orders;
2. Apply the law to concrete and complex problem scenarios;
3. Provide targeted legal assistance and advice to fictitious clients;
4. Critically analyse the current law and its implementation and propose reform.

Module content

• The Welfare Principle which stipulates in S1(1) of the Children Act 1989 and S1(2) of the Children and Adoption Act 2002 that the child’s best interests is the court’s paramount consideration as well as the further guidance provided in Section 1 of the Children Act 1989.
• Local Authority responsibility for helping families on a voluntary basis.
• Care proceedings and emergency orders to safeguard children.
• Adoption, with a particular focus on the cases where children are adopted without their parents’ consent, and the changing nature of adoption in England and Wales
• Private Law Solutions including Special Guardianship Orders and Child Arrangements Orders.
• Critical Evaluation of the best legal routes for different cases involving children in need of protection and families in need of support.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The module will be taught by a combination of in-person lectures and seminars, as well as some blended activities.  

During the seminars students will be involved in representing fictional parties in a mock case, in which they will be required to work in groups collaboratively, negotiating outcomes to simulate the progress of a realistic child protection case.

Study hours

At least 29 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Formative work will be undertaken and peer marked in the seminars. 

Reassessment

Additional costs