ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the modern structural role of the welfare principle as a determinant of how the legal system relates to children. It reviews the position in the years between the 1975 and 1989 Children Acts; a period characterised by the ever widening use of discretionary powers by the court and local authorities. The legal system always had difficulty in recognising both the separateness of a child’s interests and the need for those interests to be independently represented before the court. The 1989 Act introduced important changes to the role and functions of the welfare principle within the structure of the legal system; particularly with regard to the organisation, administration, jurisdiction and access to the courts. The introduction of the checklist of considerations was perhaps the most clear and specific demonstration of legislative intent to ensure that the 1989 Act effected change in the judicial approach to child welfare.
