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Richard W. Barker, "Unborn children and child protection - legal, policy and practice issues", in "Social Work Law: an Interface for Policy and Practice Development", Liverpool Law Review XIX/2 (1997), 219-229: This paper examines some of the procedural, practice and legal issues that arise in relation to child protection and unborn children. It considers the official guidance on such interventions, and suggests that whilst the law limits interventions, the guidance issued under 'Working Together' expects agencies to monitor unborn children without having regard to the complexities of the law. It is shown that the legal position is much more complex than the guidance indicates. Particular areas then considered are the legal position of the unborn fetus, the law in relation to parental rights, and the law in relation to termination of pregnancy. Some statistical evidence is provided to show the incidence of registration on child protection registers of unborn children and how unborn children's cases are handled very differently in different areas of England, the article concludes with suggestions for clarifications and improvements in the guidelines in 'Working Together' to reflect the complexities of child protection work with cases where unborn children are a feature. e-mail: rwbarker@unn.ac.uk

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