ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the means whereby the modem interpretation of a child’s welfare interests are represented and given effect. Recognition of the right of a child to representation in public proceedings, commenced under the Children Act 1989 and affecting his or her welfare interests, is a natural corollary of the recognition given to their right to appear as a party in such proceedings. The principle of the welfare of the child has increasingly, in recent years, been brought to bear on the manner in which the legal system accommodates the evidence of children and the evidence of others in relation to children. The child’s competence to identify their welfare interests will often in effect be neutralised by an adult judgment of the child’s non-competence to represent those interests in court. The guardian ad litem conducts extensive investigatory enquiries, independently of all other parties, into any matter considered to have a bearing on the child’s welfare interests.
