The Children Act 1989 and Wardship

Abstract

The Children Act 1989 contains much of the private and the public civil law applicable to children. The fusion of private and public law in the Act was largely accidental. The Law Commission was examining the private law relating to children (see the Law Commission’s Report on Guardianship and Custody, Law Com No. 172, 1988) at the same time as the Government happened to be examining the public law relating to children (see the White Paper, The Law on Child Care and Family Services, Cm 62, 1987).