Children and the Law: The Place of Health Professionals¹

Mental health professionals and lawyers must work together in the best interests of children and adolescents at many different interfaces. Professionals in the health and legal professions often face criticism of their work and friction can develop.

In this paper I have considered some of the issues that should be addressed, including the introduction of the White Paper on Mental Health and the existing Children Act; the work done in Tribunals considering applications for children; the demands made on experts in Court cases and some of the difficult areas of medical ethics.

A great deal of complex work is done at the interface between child mental health and the law - a considerable effort is needed to maintain this and make the needed improvements in this field.