The Children Act 1989; balancing child welfare with the concept of partnership with parents

Abstract

The paper starts from the expressed intention of the architects of the Children Act 1989 to balance the welfare of children who may need care, with the right of the children and their families to protection from unwarranted state intervention, and to involvement in the important decisions which affect their lives. The main focus of the paper is on those children for whom long term care away from the family home is needed. It considers the changes in practice and the use of new legal powers which will be needed if the partnership philosophy of the Act is to be implemented, without cost to the progress which has been made over recent years in planning for the long term welfare of such children