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.
'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