In Harm's Way - by Teresa Thornhill

About the Book

Book Synopsis

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.

From the Back Cover

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

A high number of children grow up in miserable and damaging circumstances. The failure of our child protection system and universal services - health, housing, children's social care, education - to provide them and their families with sufficient help to turn their lives around has been exacerbated by austerity-driven funding cuts and the pandemic.

Now operating at absurd speed in order to reduce the backlog, the court is dependent on often poor-quality information from overworked and under-trained social workers.

Teresa Thornhill provides an invaluable insight into the system and asks difficult questions, while offering much-needed solutions to the problems. This timely and urgent book will enlighten you about the court's processes but leave you worried for the children most at risk in our society.

Review Quotes

'This thought provoking book should be 'required reading' for all involved in the safeguarding of children and young people in England today. The author has had a lifetime of hard-earned experience in working as a lawyer in the Family Court. She distils this experience into a comprehensive yet easily readable account of how the Court operates, illustrating the processes with case histories of the experiences of such children. Her empathy and compassion for them shines through as do her positive suggestions for improving the care and best interests of highly vulnerable families.' Professor Sir Al Aynsley - Green Kt, former first Children's Commissioner for England and Professor Emeritus, University College London.

'This is a brave, compelling, sometimes times angry account of the professional and personal life of a childcare barrister, who is also a mother, working in the Family courts over a period of 30 years...At times uplifting, at times depressing, I thoroughly recommend this book for childcare practitioners, those who work in the Family Law system - and those who don't but want to know more.' Sarah Forster, retired Deputy District Judge

About the Author

Tessa Gardner recently retired as a child protection barrister. For 35 years she worked in the Family Court of England and Wales and its predecessor courts. In addition to various periods practising from chambers, she spent many years working as an 'in-house' child protection lawyer in local authority legal departments.

She has represented parents, children, grandparents and local authorities in care proceedings. During periods of employment as an in-house lawyer, she was tasked with attending case conferences, advising social workers, issuing proceedings, and pushing cases through the court system, effectively in the role of a solicitor.

Through her unusually wide range of work experience, in both urban and rural contexts, she's seen the everyday workings of social services departments and the Family Court and can bear witness to the ever-deepening crisis in both childhood and the child protection system in the UK.