About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

30 Rutgers L. Rec. 1 (2006-2007)

handle is hein.journals/rutglr30 and id is 1 raw text is: Working in the Best Interest of Children: Facilitating the Collaboration of Lawyers and Social Workers in Abuse and Neglect Cases Mary Kay Kisthardt Introduction Working in the best interest of children in abuse and neglect cases is a daunting task for both lawyers and social workers. The legal system is inadequate to meet the myriad needs of children and families in crisis. Yet only under the authority of the legal system can social work and other mental health professions intervene in families on behalf of children.' Collaboration is critical,2 but collaboration does not come easily. The juvenile court system is one that has been buffeted historically by the competing values and methods of social work and law. The institution and its rules are still evolving today, sometimes quite dramatically. This dynamic environment means that even if Professor of Law, University of Missouri- Kansas City. I am indebted to my colleagues Barbara Glesner Fines and Nancy Levit for their review and helpful comments and most especially to my professional and personal partner, Dr. Wally Kisthardt without whose constant encouragement and support none of this work would have been possible. 1 Robert Madden, Legal Content in Social Work Education: Preparing Students for Interprofessional Practice, in LAw & SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE 333-345 (Raymond Albert ed., 2000) (Social services, consequently have become increasingly cast in legal terms, thus blurring the distinction between legal rights and service delivery.). 2 Phyllida Parsloe, The Interface of Law and Social Work, 4 CONTEMP. Soc. WORK ED. 183 (1981). (If the needs of clients are to be met and their rights are to be recognized, the development of greater cooperation and shared work between lawyers and social workers is required.). H. Ted Rubin, The Nature of the Court Today, 6:3 THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN 40, 41 (1996). (The juvenile court has long been more than a court. Its judges have always known that the involvement of probation officers, social workers, educators, mental 1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most