Dr Annie Lau

Since appointment as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in 1980, I have had extensive experience in preparing court reports as an Expert Witness, and in attending court. Reports have been prepared for Solicitors, Guardians ad Litem, and Local Authorities in public law. This includes cases for which ethnocultural issues have required clarification by the Courts. Areas I have addressed included intercountry adoption, placement issues in adoption and fostering, crosscultural issues affecting diagnosis, and normative values in parenting. I have undertaken work in the London area, Exeter, and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Over the past year, I have worked in Low Secure Adolesent Units (Oakview Hospital, Kent, and Huntercombe Hospital Norwich). I have experience in preparing Reports on forensic risk. Between 2009 and 2011, I was Professional Advisor at the Health Ombudsman's Office, reviewing complex unresolved complaints in the NHS, also reviewed Clinical Negligence cases. In 2010 I was asked by CAFCASS to deliver training in Equality and Diversity for staff and senior managers in London, Southeast and Central Areas. I also have extensive experience with Chinese and Vietnamese cases. I am a fluent Chinese speaker (Cantonese and Mandarin).

I am a member of the Expert Advisory Group, Children and Young Peoples Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (I A P T) Department of Health, with a Race Equality Remit.