It’s always tough to choose the focus of an ADCS blog; balancing the many topic options with the desire to create a stimulating read on a late Friday afternoon. I had a shortlist of two, the magic of World Book Day (WBD) or exploring the enduring relevance of the Children Act 1989… Anyone who knows me will have guessed I’ve gone for the latter, despite the tempting opportunity to share my favourite WBD character!

Enacted over three decades ago, and just as I qualified as a social worker, the Children Act 1989 remains a cornerstone of child welfare law in England and Wales. Indeed, it is the golden thread running through the much-welcomed Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

In our daily work to protect children from harm, we deal with evolving risks, known unknowns, changing societal expectations, different contexts and partial information. In an environment of uncertainty, we work alongside families, and our partners, to develop and manage across a range of reasonable, defensible and best fit options to make children safer.

Over the last 35 years, we have seen shifts in family structures, changing concepts of childhood, and global influences turbo charged by social media. Despite all this, the 1989 Act has demonstrated remarkable resilience. It has provided a vital and stabilising framework for safeguarding children while allowing for reforms that address contemporary issues. The new Bill reflects a further evolution of the 1989 Act, reinforcing its core principles of welfare and protection while adapting to new challenges in education, mental ill health, and the persistent challenge of early support.

The Children Act 1989 was revolutionary. It introduced ground-breaking concepts. From the prioritisation of the voice of the child in assessments, to the introduction of parental responsibility - replacing parental rights with an emphasis on parents’ duties towards their children over ownership. The child’s welfare being the court’s “paramount consideration”, as defined in the enduring welfare checklist, to the “no order principle” remind us that children are best bought up in their own families and that the state should only intervene if not doing so causes harm, or further harm, to them. This was ground-breaking stuff.

For me, Sections 17 (support for children “in need”) and 47 (child protection investigations) enable effective child protection work within families and externally, in respect of contextual safeguarding, when the risk to the child presents in their community. The Act is helpful in its use of language and the differentiation between risk of harm and risk of significant harm, offering fundamental principles that direct the state to intervene when children have been, or are going to be, seriously harmed. This helps practitioners to see these children clearly among the many that need help but not protection.

Another strength of the Act lies in its flexibility to adapt to societal changes, via amendments and caselaw. The Human Rights Act 1998 reinforced children’s rights, while the Adoption and Children Act 2002 expanded adoption provisions, as well as the concept of “harm”, to include emotional abuse. Sections 10 and 11 of the Children Act 2004 spelled out multi-agency help and cooperation around support for families. The Children and Families Act 2014, reinforced child participation and introduced a 26-week timeline for care cases to reflect the speed at which childhood passes.

The rise of digital harms, including online exploitation and cyberbullying, add new dimensions to child protection work. The 1989 Act could not anticipate these risks, but its child-centred principles have supported legislative measures in the Online Safety Act 2023. Similarly, landmark rulings underscore the Act’s adaptability; in Re S (2002), courts prioritised sibling bonds in care placements, while Re G (2012) emphasised the importance of cultural heritage in adoption.

Of course, there are always emergent issues. The principles of child safety and welfare being paramount has influenced court decisions on separated migrant children and trafficked children. More recent challenges around depriving children of their liberty are to be addressed via the new Bill (although the issue about Tier 4 mental health provision and the interface with care is a whole different blog!).

The Children Act 1989 carefully balances protecting children, state intervention in family life and enabling practitioners and managers to do this very difficult work well. Its genius lies in its deeply principled generality, allowing evolution while maintaining core values. As society, family life and global challenges continue to shift, the Act’s emphasis on welfare, protection, responsibility and partnership ensures it remains a resilient safeguard for children. Its legacy is not stagnation but sustained relevance.

Internationally, the Act has set a global benchmark for child-centric law. In a world of constant change, the Children Act 1989 stands as a reminder that enduring laws are those built on compassion, foresight, and an unwavering commitment to children’s futures.