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23 J. Soc. Welfare & Fam. L. iii (2001)

handle is hein.journals/jnlosclwl23 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 23(1) 2001: iii-vii Editorial It is now four years since the Family Law Act was passed, during which time, major investments have been made in piloting the radical proposals for change that were contained in the Act. The long-awaited report on Monitoring Publicly Funded Mediation was publishedby the Legal Services Commissionjust before Christmas and it provides a wealth of information concerning the pilot that will be of great interest to all of those involvedin the field of family law and, even if the conclusions will not be greeted with enthusiasm by all, a great many important questions are raised about the future of mediation and its place within the family justice system. At the time of writing, however, it is unclear when, or even whether, the report on the InformationMeetingspilotfromNewcastle University will be published. Whilst it is evident that political enthusiasmfor the implementationof Part 2 of the Act has waned and that, in spite of the continued enthusiasm of many (including the Lord Chancellor's Family Law Act Advisory Board), it will now not be implemented, given the considerable investment in this pilot and the many important issues it has sought to address, it would be highly regrettable if the Lord Chancellor's Department was to decide, for whatever reasons, against publication. Whilst many will welcome the introduction of the Human Rights Act, 1998, on 2nd October 2000, some conservative voices have raised concerns that the Act, by virtue of its focus on rights rather than responsibilities and duties, will only serve to promote liberal agendas and undermine traditional values. Such an apparently liberal and, by implication, libertarian piece of legislation seems likely, in the coming months, to come into conflict with the communitarian aspirations that are evident in so many of the policies of the present government and with those conservative voices that bemoan the breakdown of the nuclear family and the demise of traditional values. However, as Michael Preston-Shoot, Gwyneth Roberts and Stuart Vernon argue in their consideration of the impact of such developments on social work, as the influence of human rights law grows, 'the value base of law will become more explicit, making it easier to consider and discuss the value(s) base of law'. Whilst acknowledging that, because the primary focus of the Act is on civil and political rights, whilst the large majority of the problems facing social work clients are the consequence of poverty and social exclusion, the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 may be less than might have been hoped for, they argue that the Human Rights Act will introduce a positive definition of rights, whereas social work law (insofar as this exists as a discrete body of law) has been concerned primarily with defining the duties and powers of local authorities and the responsibilities of clients, rather than their rights. Such developments, they argue, may result in the need to ground these rights more clearly in a consistent value base when framing future legislation. At a time when there is considerable uncertainty about the future of social work, when the concerns of policy makers seems to be predominantly instrumental and Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law ISSN 0141-8033 print/ISSN 1469-9621 online © 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

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