Legal Aspects of Social Work

One of the most difficult problems in the mental health field is how to care for people who cannot care for themselves. The maltreatment and denial of rights to mentally ill people in the past was as notorious as it was universal. But with the rise of the patient's rights movement in the last half of the 20th century more sincere efforts have been made to balance the rights of the mentally ill with the interests of their families, mental health providers, and the state (Caras 01).

The Human Rights of 1998 is likely to lead to new legal challenges to laws restricting the rights of the mentally ill (Atkinson 1999). The case cited for this paper is that of a woman living in a residential home subjected to a guardianship order under the 1983 Mental Health Act who wants to live with her children, placed by a court in a foster home. The decision affecting the woman in question was made by a multiprofessional mental health team, which typically includes the disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, nursing, social work, and occupational and activity therapy (Fichtner et al 2001). An examination of the implications of this case can illuminate some issues concerning the legal aspects of social work.

Several articles of the Human Rights Act are relevant to mental health patients. Hewitt (1999) has indicated that legal challenges to Article 5 (1)(e) - the right of persons of 'unsound mind' not to be deprived of their liberty except in accordance

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Health Act, Rights Act, Human Rights, Aspects Social, Court Protection, EWCA Civ, Adoption Law, mental health, human rights, Court Appeal, Mental Health, Placement Adoption, health act, 2004 1, mentally ill, mental health act, human rights act, local authority, rights mentally, 1983 mental, legal challenges, rights claims, 1983 mental health, rights mentally ill, human rights claims,
Approximate Word count = 991
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Legal Aspects of Social Work