Critical Commentary: Looked After Children: Time for Change?

Abstract

For the past 120 years or so, those concerned about the welfare of children have taken steps to remove them from their homes when the risk of leaving them in situ has seemed too great. The early Salvationists, such as Thomas Barnardo and Benjamin Waugh, saw their ideas formalized in legislation which, from the 1908 Children Act onwards, has sought one end: to protect children from harm by removing them from the home when the risk of leaving them there has seemed too great. Although the wording may have changed over the past century, the intent of all the Children Acts has remained, in that regard, constant. The move, however, towards family group conferences and towards consid ering wider kinship support for children has increased in recent years, with groups such as the newly formed Family Policy Alliance pressing for changes in practice, so that: