ABSTRACT
The presumption under the Children Act 1989 is that social work intervention, when needed, will wherever possible be in the form of the provision of supportive services to children and their families on a partnership basis. Schedule 2, Part I to the 1989 Act sets out the range of services which local authorities are under either a duty or have power to provide. Local authorities have preventive and investigative duties under the Act which relate to all children. In addition to providing day care, local authorities have a duty under the Act, together with the local education authority, to review provision of day care and the availability of childminders for children under the age of eight, on a three-yearly basis. Children in accommodation, together with those who are the subject of emergency protection orders or are in care, or on remand, come within the category of being 'looked after' by the local authority.
