A comprehensive, practical guide to child protection emergencies, including case studies and legal advice, Protecting Powers: Emergency Intervention in Child Protection discusses the findings of two major research studies on emergency child protection interventions conducted between 1998 and 2004.

List of Tables and Figures. About the Authors. Acknowledgements. Preface. Chapter 1 Emergency powers for child protection. Chapter 2 The development of emergency powers. Chapter 3 The police, child protection and police protection. Chapter 4 Working together? The police, social services and police protection. Chapter 5 Children, families and applications for Emergency Protection Orders. Chapter 6 Local authority decisions to seek emergency protection. Chapter 7 The court process in emergency protection cases. Chapter 8 The EPO and afterwards. Chapter 9 Emergency intervention – Reassessment and Reform. Appendix A. Details o Research Methods. Appendix B. List of Cases. Bibliography. Index.

Removal or detention of children for their protection has along-established place in child protection practice in the U.K. and in the child protection practice in the U.K. and in the child protection systems in Europe, North America, Australia and South Africa. Although is well recognised, their use remains controversial because of their impact on family integrity and the rights of parents and children. In England and Wales, both the courts and the police have powers to sanction such short-term protection of children with little or no notice to parents. These powers are used in a wide range of circumstances, including the removal of new-born babies from their mothers in hospital, to protect children let home alone and where parents eject their adolescent children from the home. Protecting Powers s provides a critical account of  current practice in emergency child protection, identifying good practice and including proposals for reform. Using data from two major empirical studies, funded jointly by the NSPCC and the Nuffield Foundation, the book explores the operation of emergency child protection provisions. These studies provide a rich account of practice from the perspectives of a wide range of professionals working to protect children, including police offers, social workers, child care lawyers, magistrates' legal advisers and magistrates. The broader questions of professionals accountability and the limited ability of the courts to safeguard rights are also discussed.