Legislation

Policy Background
When the Children Act was enacted in 1989 it constituted the single body of law governing public childcare law and services, as well as containing significant provisions as regards private family law.

The Act remains the most important piece of legislation about children. However, it is no longer as comprehensive in its coverage as it was. The provisions regarding the registration of children’s care services were omitted by the Care Standards Act 2000 and are now to be found in that Act. In addition, the Children Act 2004 made significant new provision about the management of local authority children’s services. Finally, the Childcare Act 2006 repealed in relation to England the child day care registration provisions of the Children Act 1989. These were replaced by the registration provisions of the 2006. However, the Children Act 1989 continues to regulate child day care provision in Wales.

The overall effect of the Act
While in some respects the Children Act 1989 has been chipped away, in others it has been enhanced. The most significant alteration for local authorities has been the insertion of the leaving care provisions. So far as private family law is concerned, the new provisions designed to enhance the effectiveness of contact orders, inserted by the Children and Adoption Act 2006, and those which created special guardianship orders by the Adoption and Children Act 2002, have been of most significance.