Children and Young Persons Act 1938



Children and Young Persons Act, 1938

(1 & 2 Geo. 6.) 40.

An Act to extend the powers of courts of summary jurisdiction as to the making of orders for the protection, custody, supervision and care of children and young persons, and for their temporary detention; to make further provision as to children and young persons in respect of whom such orders are made; and to amend the law as to the constitution of juvenile courts in the Metropolitan police court area.

[13th July 1938]

B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

S-1 Enlargement of powers of juvenile courts under s. 64 of principal Act.

1 Enlargement of powers of juvenile courts under s. 64 of principal Act.

1. The Children and Young Persons Act, 1933(hereinafter referred to as ‘the principal Act’) shall have effect as if the powers conferred on a juvenile court by section sixty-four of that Act (which enables a juvenile court to make certain orders in relation to refractory children and young persons) included a power to make (without making any other order, or in addition to making an order placing the child or young person under the supervision of a probation officer or of some other person appointed for the purpose by the court) an order committing the child or young person to the care of any fit person, whether a relative or not, who is willing to undertake the care of him.

S-2 Supervision order in place of order committing to care of fit person.

2 Supervision order in place of order committing to care of fit person.

2. The power of a juvenile court under section eighty-four of the principal Act to revoke an order committing a child or young person to the care of a fit person shall include a power to substitute for that order an order placing the child or young person, for a specified period not exceeding three years, under the supervision of a probation officer or of some other person appointed for the purpose by the court, and section sixty-six of the principal Act shall apply in relation to the substituted order as if it were an order made under Part III of that Act:

Provided that an order under the said section, placing a young person under the supervision of a probation officer or of some other person appointed for the purpose by the court, shall be of no effect after the time at which the person to whom the order relates attains the age of eighteen years.

S-3 Power of courts acting under Education Act, 1921, to make supervision orders.

3 Power of courts acting under Education Act, 1921, to make supervision orders.

(1) The powers of a court under section forty-five of the Education Act, 1921 (which determines the orders which may be made by a court on the hearing of a complaint of non-compliance with a school attendance order) shall include a power to make, with respect to the child in relation to whom such a complaint is made to the court, an order placing him, for a specified period not exceeding three years, under the supervision of a probation officer or of some other person appointed for the purpose by the court; and the court may make such an order either without making any other order or in addition to making an order committing the child to the care of a fit person.

(2) If a court before which any complaint of non-compliance with a school attendance order is duly made under section forty-five of the Education Act, 1921, is not in a position to decide what order ought to be made under that section with respect to the child to whom the complaint relates, the court may make such interim order as it thinks fit for his detention or continued detention in a place of safety.

An interim order under this subsection shall not remain in force for more than twenty-eight days; but if, at the expiration of that period, the court deems it expedient so to do, it may make a further interim order.

(3) Without prejudice to the effect of section one hundred and forty of the Education Act, 1921, the court before which a complaint is duly made under section forty-five of that Act, may authorise a person to bring before the court the child to whom the complaint relates.

S-4 Provisions which may be contained in, and variation and revocation of, supervision orders.

4 Provisions which may be contained in, and variation and revocation of, supervision orders.

(1) Any order made under section sixty-two, section sixty-four or section eighty-four of the principal Act, as amended by this Act, or under section forty-five of the Education Act, 1921, as so amended, placing a child or young person under the supervision of a probation officer or of some other person appointed for the purpose by the court, may contain such provisions (including provisions determining the place at which the child or young person is to reside), as the court, having regard to the particular circumstances of the case, considers necessary for effecting the purpose of the order:

Provided that—

(a ) no such order shall—

(i) if it contains any such provisions with respect to residence, be made in relation to a young person, without the consent of that person, or

(ii) be made so as to require a person to reside in any institution which is not subject to inspection by the Secretary of State, unless the said person is, while residing in the institution, to be employed, or to seek employment, outside it;

(b ) where such an order is made containing provisions requiring a person to reside in an institution—

(i) the court by which the order is made shall forthwith give notice of the terms of the order to the Secretary of State; and

(ii)the Secretary of State may at any time, if he considers that it is in the interests of that person so to do, cause an application to be made to any court having power to vary the order, and thereupon that court may vary the provisions of the order by excluding therefrom the provisions with respect to residence or by substituting the name of some...

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