Clare Seymour - Courtroom and Report Writing Skills for Social Workers

Other titles in the Post-Qualifying Social Work Practice series

Advanced Social Work with Children and Families ISBN 978 1 84445 363 4
The Approved Mental Health Professionals Guide to Mental Health Law (2nd edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 115 9
The Approved Mental Health Professionals Guide to Psychiatry and Medication (2nd edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 304 7
Critical Thinking for Social Work (2nd edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 157 9
Effective Leadership, Management and Supervision in Health and Social Care ISBN 978 1 84445 181 4
Evidence-based Policy and Practice in Mental Health Social Work (2nd edition) ISBN 978 0 85725 425 2
Introducing Child Care Social Work: Contemporary Policy and Practice ISBN 978 1 84445 180 7
Law and the Social Work Practitioner (2nd edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 264 4
The Mental Capacity Act 2005: A Guide for Practice (2nd edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 294 1
Newly Qualified Social Workers: A Handbook for Practice ISBN 978 1 84445 251 4
Practice Education in Social Work: A Handbook for Practice Teachers, Assessors and Educators ISBN 978 1 84445 105 0
The Practice Educators Handbook ISBN 978 085725 094 0
Proactive Management in Social Work Practice ISBN 978 1 84445 289 7
Social Work Practice with Adults ISBN 978 1 84445 292 7
Values and Ethics in Mental Health Practice ISBN 978 1 84445 375 7
Vulnerable Adults and Community Care (2nd edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 362 7

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Second edition

CLARE SEYMOUR AND RICHARD SEYMOUR

Series editors: Steve Keen and Keith Brown

First published as Courtroom Skills for Social Workers in 2007 by Learning Matters Ltd.

Reprinted in 2009
Second edition published in 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Learning Matters.

2011 Clare Seymour and Richard Seymour

The rights of Clare Seymour and Richard Seymour to be identified as the Authors of the Work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of HMSO.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 0 85725 409 2

This book is also available in the following formats:
Adobe ebook ISBN: 978 0 85725 383 5
EPUB ebook ISBN: 978 0 85725 382 8
Kindle ISBN: 978 0 85725 384 2

Cover and text design by Code 5 Design Associates Ltd
Project management by Deer Park Productions, Tavistock
Typeset by Pantek Arts Ltd, Maidstone, Kent
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow

Learning Matters Ltd
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Exeter EX1 1HB
Tel: 01392 215560
info@learningmatters.co.uk
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Welcome to the Post-Qualifying Social Work Practice Guides by Learning Matters. We have designed these guides to be full of practical tasks, ideas and guidance, making them ideal for the busy social worker, or indeed those training to be social workers. It is our sincere desire that they help the social work profession to reach even higher standards and ultimately benefit people who use services, and carers.

As part of the Post-Qualifying Social Work Practice series, these Practice Guides have been written by people with a passion for excellence in social work practice. This publication is no different. The other books in the series may also be of value to you as they are written to inform, inspire and develop social work practice.

Dr Steven Keen and Professor Keith Brown (University of Bournemouth Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work)

Clare Seymour is a registered social worker. Until 2009 she was Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Anglia Ruskin University, where she taught social work law, communication and interviewing skills, and professional accountability to social work students at undergraduate and masters level. Her social work experience includes 16 years of local authority childrens social work, where she had wide experience of court work, and bereavement support within a general practice. She is currently working with social work students as a practice educator, and as an external examiner.

Richard Seymour is a Senior Circuit judge assigned to the Queens Bench Division of the High Court of Justice. He was in practice as a barrister until 2000, was appointed QC in 1991, and has been a President of Mental Health Review Tribunals. He jointly edited Kemp & Kemp, the Quantum of Damages, 4th edn, 1975, and contributed the legal chapters to publications on practice and procedure for the quantity surveyor, and the architect in practice.

We have received valuable assistance from professionals who undertake different roles in court, and from two people who have shared their personal experiences of social workers and courts. We express our warmest thanks to the following:

Barbara Armitage, Dave Barron, Christopher Compston, Hazel Davies, Jane Day, Diana Eaglestone, Amy Gordon, Sue Kettlewell, Alison Lamont, Ann Milne, Dot Neville, Corn Van Staden, Laura and Michael (not their real names). We are also very grateful to John Noyce who prepared the diagrams.

Michaels only child was removed from his care and, ultimately, placed for adoption. He agreed to talk to us about his experiences, expressing the hope that it would contribute to the training of social workers in the future.