The challenge of the Children Act 1989: balancing support, care and protection for children
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/jcs.2010.0545 |
| Pages | 2-5 |
| Date | 27 September 2010 |
| Published date | 27 September 2010 |
| Author | Rupert Hughes,Wendy Rose |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care,Sociology |
Journal of Children’s Ser vices • V olume 5 Issue 3 • Sept ember 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd
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10.5042/jcs.2010.0545
change the name of the Dep artment for Childre n,
Schools and Families back to the Department f or
Education a nd we trust this does not point to
any lesseni ng of concern in respect of vulner able
children an d their families.
In the first volume (5,2), which was mainly
concerned with the court system, we described
the principal changes in the law from 1989 to date
and posed several questions in our editorial about
the system and its implementation. Generally, the
system and the criteria for use of the courts have
remained intact but serious questions are under
review about the practice. In this volume, we
address the provision of welfare services and the
balance between them and we start with Roger
Morgan’s article on the views of children on their
experiences of decisions and services under the
Children Act 1989. The position and perspective
of the child underlay the whole enterprise of the
1989 Act and the Act (as supplemented over the
years) can be said to come out well in acceptance
of these principles. While noting that the children
expected a lot of detail in the Act that would have
been impracticable, Morgan concludes that the
principles remain important and relevant now,
in particular the overriding need to consider the
interests of individual children.
As a broad generalisation, during the first
decade since 1989 the government’s aim was
to implement the Act and in certain respects to
This is the second of a two-part special edition of
the Journal of Children’s Services to mark 21 years of
the Children Act 1989 in England. We now present
articles on the services to promote the welfare of
children and families, which were at the heart of
the Act – support, care and protection. It is in this
area in particular that challenges arise in practice
and priorities have to be chosen – for example,
between safeguarding and welfare, between
universal and targeted services and between social
services, education and health. We hope that the
Journal will include articles in a future issue on
the development and impact of the law relating
to children in the other countries of the UK
(Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Articles
on comparisons with the legal systems in other
countries would also be welcomed by the editors.
In our f irst editorial (Jour nal of C hildren’s
Services vo lume 5, issue 2) we had hoped to
present com ment on the polit ical approach in
England aft er the recent UK General Election
and in p articular whether th e consensus of 19 89
in relation to children stil l holds. This hop e has,
in the e vent, proved prematu re. At the time of
writing the new UK coalition government has
two reviews underway that ha ve relevance – in
respect of family justice an d of child protec tion
– and a ministerial taskforc e on families and
children. W e hope that these volumes will be
of help to them. One of their first acts was to
The challenge of the
balancing support, care
and protection for children
Rupert Hughes
Centre for Social Policy, Dartington, UK
Wendy Rose
The Open University, UK
Editorial
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