ABSTRACT
The ‘best interests’ principle is primarily a utilitarian notion. Utilitarianism is a scientific theory as well as a moral one. The identification of ways to achieve true happiness can be regarded as a technical matter. At the same time it is ‘natural’ for any individual to seek happiness. The difficulty is that rule-utilitarianism very easily collapses into act-utilitarianism. If the children's interests are really to be separated off and regarded as paramount, it seems that something other than utilitarian arguments is involved. The impression created is that utilitarianism reduces the original moral arguments to the status of means rather than ends. This very brief examination of utilitarian theory indicates some of the difficulties experienced by social workers making care decisions according to the child's best interests. Some social workers might have approached a problem of the kind by means of family therapy, which is an attempt to achieve voluntary redistribution of power within the family hierarchy.
