Indigenous Children and the Law - LAWS8123

Description

LLM Specialisations

Recommended Prior Knowledge

Course Aims

• Develop an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of the rights of the child;
• Develop an ability to critically analyse the legal arguments around child rights;
• Develop the ability to evaluate the opportunities and challenges in using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as effective ways of promoting and protecting Indigenous children’s rights;
• Demonstrate an ability to identify the ways in which the law becomes a part of Indigenous children’s lives;
• Develop an understanding of the major issues in Indigenous juvenile justice and the limitations of approaches to combating the problem;
• Develop an understanding of the major issues relating to Indigenous child protection and be able to discuss ‘best interest’ options for intervention in specific contexts;
• Develop a professional awareness of the type of work involved when working with Indigenous families including children;
• Develop an awareness of and ability to apply interdisciplinary perspectives to their studies;
• Demonstrate an ability to think critically and to justify ideas in a reasoned manner;
• Identify and conduct appropriate legal research and writing.

Learning Outcomes

• demonstrate knowledge of the range of issues impacting on Indigenous Children's legal and political participation, including a critical understanding of the policy considerations informing the law in this area;
• demonstrate the skills of analysis and evaluation which are required to engage in practical and scholarly legal research. This will include skills necessary to plan effective research strategies; collect, retrieve and collate relevant information; analyse, evaluate and interpret information apply and report on empirical research;
• recognise and reflect on ethical and justice issues that are likely to arise in professional practice in this area;
• identify and formulate legal issues in this area and engage in critical analysis of those issues;
• be able to communicate their understanding and analysis of legal and policy issues in this area to others in both legal and non-legal formats.

Assessment