The Children Act

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, illness, death by suicide, and death.

Through Fiona Mayes’s story, The Children Act explores the complexities that sometimes arise from the intersection of one’s personal and professional lives, questioning whether keeping the two separate is even possible. As a High Court judge in the Family Division, Fiona has devoted her life to her judicial career. She has put professional advancement before her home and family life. While she loves her husband Jack, she has chosen not to have children in order to establish herself in the legal world. As she puts it, ever since she was “sworn in by the Lord Chief Justice and took her oath of allegiance and her Judicial Oath before two hundred of her bewigged colleagues,” she has “belonged to the law as some women had once been brides of Christ” (49). This analogy implies that Fiona has put off traditional notions of femininity, womanhood, and maternity for the sake of her profession. She prioritizes her vocation over her marriage and home, actively setting aside personal engagements and dramas in order to establish what she believes is a healthy barrier between her personal and professional spheres.