Children Act 1948
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Children Act, 1948.
(11 & 12 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 43.
An Act to make further provision for the care or welfare, up to the age of eighteen and, in certain cases, for further periods, of boys and girls when they are without parents or have been lost or abandoned by, or are living away from, their parents, or when their parents are unfit or unable to take care of them and in certain other circumstances, to amend the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act, 1937, the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1925 and certain other enactments relating to children; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[30th June 1948]
Be 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:—
Part I .
Duty of Local Authorities to assume Care of Children .
1 Duty of local authority to provide for orphans, deserted children, etc.
(1) Where it appears to a local authority with respect to a child in their area appearing to them to be under the age of seventeen—
(a ) that he has neither parent nor guardian or has been and remains abandoned by his parents or guardian or is lost; or
(b ) that his parents or guardian are, for the time being or permanently, prevented by reason of mental or bodily disease or infirmity or other incapacity or any other circumstances from providing for his proper accommodation, maintenance and upbringing; and
(c ) in either case, that the intervention of the local authority under this section is necessary in the interests of the welfare of the child,
it shall be the duty of the local authority to receive the child into their care under this section.
(2) Where a local authority have received a child into their care under this section, it shall, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, be their duty to keep the child in their care so long as the welfare of the child appears to them to require it and the child has not attained the age of eighteen.
(3) Nothing in this section shall authorise a local authority to keep a child in their care under this section if any parent or guardian desires to take over the care of the child, and the local authority shall, in all cases where it appears to them consistent with the welfare of the child so to do, endeavour to secure that the care of the child is taken over either—
(a ) by a parent or guardian of his, or
(b ) by a relative or friend of his, being, where possible, a person of the same religious persuasion as the child or who gives an undertaking that the child will be brought up in that religious persuasion.
(4) Where a local authority receive a child into their care under this section who is then ordinarily resident in the area of another local authority,—
(a ) that other local authority may at any time not later than three months after the determination (whether by agreement between the authorities or in accordance with the following provisions of this subsection) of the ordinary residence of the child, or with the concurrence of the first-mentioned authority at any subsequent time, take over the care of the child; and
(b ) the first-mentioned authority may recover from the other authority any expenses duly incurred by them under Part II of this Act in respect of him (including any expenses so incurred after he has ceased to be a child and, if the other authority take over the care of him, including also any travelling or other expenses incurred in connection with the taking-over).
Any question arising under this subsection as to the ordinary residence of a child shall be determined by the Secretary of State.
(5) In determining for the purposes of the last foregoing subsection the ordinary residence of any child, any period during which he resided in any place as an inmate of a school or other institution, or in accordance with the requirements of a supervision order or probation order or the conditions of a recognisance, or while boarded out under this Act, the Poor Law Act, 1930 , the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933 , the Poor Law (Scotland) Act, 1934 , or the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act, 1937 , by a local authority or education authority shall be disregarded.
2 Assumption by local authority of parental rights.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, a local authority may resolve with respect to any child in their care under the foregoing section in whose case it appears to them—
(a ) that his parents are dead and that he has no guardian; or
(b ) that a parent or guardian of his (hereinafter referred to as the person on whose account the resolution was passed) has abandoned him or suffers from some permanent disability rendering the said person incapable of caring for the child, or is of such habits or mode of life as to be unfit to have the care of the child,
that all the rights and powers which the deceased parents would have if they were still living, or, as the case may be, all the rights and powers of the person on whose account the resolution was passed, shall vest in the local authority.
(2) In the case of a resolution passed by virtue of paragraph (b ) of the last foregoing subsection, unless the person on whose account the resolution was passed has consented in writing to the passing of the resolution, the local authority, if the whereabouts of the said person are known to them, shall forthwith after the passing of the resolution serve on him notice in writing of the passing thereof; and if, not later than one month after such a notice is served on him, the person on whose account the resolution was passed serves a notice in writing on the local authority objecting to the resolution, the resolution shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, lapse on the expiration of fourteen days from the service of the notice of objection.
Every notice served by a local authority under this subsection shall inform the person on whom the notice is served of his right to object to the resolution and of the effect of any objection made by him.
(3) Where a notice has been served on a local authority under subsection (2) of this section, the authority may not later than fourteen days from the receipt by them of the notice complain to a juvenile court, or in Scotland the sheriff, having jurisdiction in the area of the authority, and in that event the resolution shall not lapse by reason of the service of the notice until the determination of the complaint, and the court or sheriff may, on the hearing of the complaint, order that the resolution shall not lapse by reason of the service of the notice:
Provided that the court or sheriff shall not so order unless satisfied that the child had been, and at the time when the resolution was passed remained, abandoned by the person who made the objection or that that person is unfit to have the care of the child by reason of unsoundness of mind or mental deficiency or by reason of his habits or mode of life.
(4) Any notice under this section may be served by post, so however that a notice served by a local authority under subsection (2) of this section shall not be duly served by post unless it is sent in a registered letter.
3 Effect of assumption by local authority of parental rights.
(1) While a resolution passed by virtue of paragraph (a of section two of this Act is in force with respect to a child, all rights and powers which the deceased parents would have if they were still living shall, in rights respect of the child, be vested in the local authority in accordance with the resolution.
(2) While a resolution passed by virtue of paragraph (b ) of the said subsection (1) is in force with respect to a child, all rights and powers of the person on whose account the resolution was passed shall, in respect of the child, be vested in the local authority in accordance with the resolution, and subsection (3) of section one of this Act shall not in respect of the child apply in relation to the person on whose account the resolution was passed.
(3) A resolution under section two of this Act shall not prevent the local authority from allowing, either for a fixed period or until the local authority otherwise determine, the care of the child to be taken over by, and the child to be under the control of, a parent, guardian, relative or friend in any case where it appears to the authority to be for the benefit of the child.
(4) Where a resolution under section two of this Act is in force in respect of a child and the child has ceased to be in the care of the local authority by whom the resolution was passed, then (without prejudice to the provisions of section one of this Act if those provisions apply) the local authority by whom the resolution was passed shall have power to receive the child back into their care in any circumstances in which it appears to them that their intervention under this subsection is necessary in the interests of the welfare of the child.
(5) Where a local authority receive a child into their care under the last foregoing subsection, the provisions of this Act, except subsections (4) and (5) of section one thereof, shall apply as if the child had been received into their care under the said section one.
(6) A resolution under the said section two shall not relieve any person from any liability to maintain, or contribute to the maintenance of, the child.
(7) A resolution under the said section two shall not authorise a local...
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