Professor Judith Masson
B.A.(Cantab.), M.A.(Cantab), Ph.D.(Leic.)
Expertise
Current positions
Emeritus Professor
University of Bristol Law School
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
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My research focuses on child protection systems, particularly the interaction between law and social work, and local authorities and courts, empirically using quantiative and qualitative methods and through contextual socio-legal analysis. I have undertaken major empirical studies on emergency intervention in child protection; care proceedings, including legal aid costs; parental representation in care proceedings; the operation and impact of the pre-proceedings process for care proceedings; and the reforms to care proceedings and their impact on children's outcomes. My empirical research uses mixed methods, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches and has included ethnography, action research and data linkage with the main databases for children's social care. In addition I undertake doctrinal analysis of child law and its development nationally and internationally. I am currntly working on a study of Dicharge of Care Orders, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. |
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Discharge of Care Orders – a National Study
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
Children who need care and protection are made subject to care orders giving the local authority responsibility for their care and welfare. These orders can last until children are aged…Managing organisational unit
University of Bristol Law SchoolDates
01/01/2020 to 31/12/2022
Discharge of Care Orders – a National Study
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
Children who need care and protection are made subject to care orders giving the local authority responsibility for their care and welfare. These orders can last until children are aged…Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
01/01/2020 to 31/12/2022
Outcomes for children subject to care proceedings before and after care proceedings reform
Principal Investigator
Description
The study will identify outcomes for children of care proceedings by linking administrative data on children's services with data collected in a study of these proceedings. Linking research data about…Managing organisational unit
University of Bristol Law SchoolDates
01/09/2015 to 31/07/2018
Families on the edge of care proceedings: the operation and impact of pre-proceedings processes in children's social care
Principal Investigator
Description
Changes to care proceedings, introduced in April 2008, included new guidance to local authorities on working with parents before proceedings are issued, and new rights to legal aid for parents…Managing organisational unit
University of Bristol Law SchoolDates
01/04/2010 to 01/07/2012
Legal representation of parents in child care proceedings problems and strategies
Role
Co-Principal Investigator
Description
In 3 of the 4 courts area in the study, the court (judge or magistrates legal adviser) did not manage cases - the progress of cases was achieved by negotiation…Managing organisational unit
University of Bristol Law SchoolDates
01/06/2008 to 01/06/2010
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Recent publications
01/05/2023The Discharge of Care Orders: A Study of England and Wales
The Discharge of Care Orders: A Study of England and Wales
Allowing appeals to increase High Court power
Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law
England: attempting to learn from mistakes in an increasingly 'risk-averse' professional context
Errors and Mistakes in child protection
Linking children’s social care data to information about their care proceedings to understand the use of care proceedings and their effects on parents, children and local authorities
Child and Family Social Work
Errors and mistakes in child protection
Errors and mistakes in child protection
Related people
Dr Ludivine Garside
Senior Research Associate
University of Bristol Law School
Dr Jo Staines
Associate Professor in Youth Justice and Child Welfare
School for Policy Studies
Professor Devyani Prabhat
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University of Bristol Law School
Dr Jessica Roy
Senior Lecturer
School for Policy Studies
Dr Beth Stone
Lecturer
School for Policy Studies