Author Description

"The fourth edition of Children's Law Handbook is intended for those who work with children. This desk reference allows readers to quickly find and identify important legal points, issues, and consequences to consider during decision-making. Children's Law Handbook, Fourth Edition is organized and written in a style that facilitates ease of reading even for those individuals who have little or no legal background. Significant court cases that address the issues most relevant to effective practice have been carefully selected. The text begins with an in-depth, focused discussion of major legal issues followed by relevant constitutional issues, statutory considerations and case law. Legal citations are used to support and enhance the discussion of these issues. Legal references where indicated, are found on each page supporting the topics under discussion, thus enabling the reader to easily ascertain the legal sources of authority related to those particular topics. Highlights of new developments and additions to this edition include: Updated discussion of children providing evidence in court, and how courts should properly evaluate that evidence, including when adults testify as to events that occurred during childhood: R. v. C.K-D., 2016 SCC 41; R. v. L.M., 2014 ONCA 640; R. v. ADG, 2015 ABCA 149; R. v. Dawson, 2016 ONCA 880 Revised and expanded section addressing the use of children's videotaped statements in court and the criteria for their admissibility: R. v. WDAZ, 2018 BCCA 180; R. v. Desjarlais, 2016 MBCA 69; R. v. RAH, 2017 PECA 5; R. v. Lamure, 2018 ONSC 6161; R. v. Dawson, 2016 ONCA 880 Explanation of the significance of the Victim's Bill of Rights Act in cases involving children as victims Analysis of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in R. v. Jarvis and its implication of children's privacy rights: R. v. Jarvis, 2019 SCC 10 Analysis of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in R v. Magoon regarding when parental use of force may attract criminal liab