ABSTRACT
The Act has been described as 'a watershed in the history of British child care', reflecting major changes in attitudes and practice. The Act created a family court structure designed to deal with matters of both custody and care; it redefined legal powers in regard to child protection; and it outlined the principles that should characterise the care of children in the public domain. The guiding principles that have influenced recent policy developments, and therefore legislation, include the following: the value of normalisation, the desirability of community integration, the primacy of the child's rights and the importance of parental participation and partnership. The ideas of partnership and of client participation are given headline treatment in the policy context, although it is recognised that the practice implications will take some time to work out. The Barclay Report of 1982 has been described 'as an important statement about the character of community care in the late twentieth century'.
