ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of the welfare principle in proceedings for care and supervision. The Children Act 1989 has radically adjusted the role and weighting given to the principle of the welfare of the child in public family law. Any person with parental responsibilities and the child concerned are automatically the parties in care proceedings instigated under the 1989 Act. The respondents to a care order application are each parent, with parental responsibility, of the child concerned. Both care and supervision orders are available under the 1989 Act if the two stages of the application process are completed. Firstly, the threshold criteria of s 31 must be met. Secondly, the court must also be satisfied that the order if made would be compatible with the child’s welfare interests. In keeping with the full care and supervision orders, an interim order has a negative functional relationship with welfare.
