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This paper aims to critically examine the idea that devolution in Wales, compared with England, brings a decisive shift in the delivery of children's services and, by extension, challenges our assumption that the Children Act 1989 remains as a primary unifying force in child welfare legislation.

The paper primarily addresses those matters pertaining to public law under parts III‐V of the Act that give force to core functions within the personal social services in Wales and England. It looks at the Act from the viewpoint of devolution in Wales.

The evolution of services, new policy frameworks and changes to the UK political architecture since the implementation of the Act have transformed the delivery of children's services. The 1989 Act remains prominent but such changes have brought a very different shape and purpose to the occupational world in which the Act was first launched in Wales and England.

The paper shows that it is much less clear if the 1989 Act can be “read off” today – as perhaps it could when it was first enacted – as an inclusive encoding of what local authorities and their partners should and must do for children.

The Children Act 1989 revolutionised the way in which care proceedings were conducted. Gone were the rudimentary procedures of the old system, where parents and children had limited access to independent representation. Instead, the Act enabled the local authority, parents and children to be equally represented and for evidence to be presented in an open and accessible manner. The changes were widely welcomed and hailed as the most significant reform of children's law for decades. Drawing on academic, legal and policy literature, this article examines the changing nature and context for the representation of children and parents over the past two decades. While there have been developments that have strengthened the representation of children and parents, it is argued that more recent changes, including increased bureaucracy and the introduction of the Public Law Outline, may well have the effect of subverting the system introduced by the Children Act 1989 and of returning matters to the inadequate pre‐existing system.

This review sets out the legislative amendments that have been made to the Children Act 1989 since it was implemented in 1991. It highlights the most significant changes to the original wording of the Act, with brief summaries of the relevant background and references to comment by leading figures in law and social work. The review follows the structure of the Act, beginning with the welfare principle and covering: private law provisions; local authority duties to children in need; care orders; and child protection. It is concluded that the majority of the amendments have arisen through increased recognition of the impact of domestic violence on children, campaigning by the fathers' rights movements and the economic pressures on local authorities that have prevented the provision of adequate services to children in need.

This article sets out the views and experience of children and young people on selected major aspects of their lives which are governed by provisions in the Children Act 1989. It draws on extensive statutory consultations with children in care, receiving children's social care services, or otherwise living away from home, carried out over the past eight years by the Children's Rights Director for England. Two key themes from children are featured in particular: the extent to which the intentions of the Act are actually experienced by children in practice, and the extent to which delivery of the intentions of the Act is individualised according to each child's needs, wishes and feelings. Children's views, experiences and, in some cases, proposals for the future are explored in relation to ascertaining and taking into account children's wishes and concerns in decision‐making, selection of placements, support to care leavers, family contact, care planning and reviews, and complaints and representations. The issues of private fostering and the intentions and development of the role of the Independent Reviewing Officer are discussed from the child's perspective and in the light of the subsequent Children and Young Persons Act 2008.

This article examines the impact on disabled children and their families of the Children Act 1989 from the author's perspective of close involvement in this area of policy from 1992 to 2005. It argues that the inclusion of disabled children explicitly for the first time in children's legislation marked a necessary step in seeing disabled children as children first. Two main areas of concern about the effectiveness of the Act's implementation are highlighted. First, provisions in the Act for disabled children living away from home in health and education establishments have been widely ignored and are now seen as inadequate. Second is whether the provisions regarding short breaks (respite care) have been effective in providing the sort of support that families need at the required levels. The article suggests that passing legislation may be insufficient in itself to have much impact on the lives of disabled children.

This article gives an account of the cases in which the Children Act 1989 has been interpreted and applied by the highest courts in the UK, the appellate committee of the House of Lords until October 2009 when their jurisdiction was taken over by the new Supreme Court of the UK. It explains the reasoning behind those decisions and how they did, or did not, reflect the thinking of the original framers of the Act. It concludes that, by and large, the Act has stood up well to judicial scrutiny but that the Human Rights Act 1998 has brought new challenges to which it must respond.

This article reviews the development over the last 20 years of the section 8 powers under the Children Act 1989. In particular, it examines residence, especially shared residence, contact, prohibited steps and specific issue orders. In respect of each order, the review compares the current position with what was originally intended and more generally anticipated. The article concludes that whereas prohibited steps and specific issue orders have broadly worked as expected and intended, residence orders and contact have not. Residence orders have been used to allocate parental responsibility, which was not intended, and shared care arrangements have become much more common than anticipated. Contrary to expectation, contact disputes have proved to be exceptionally problematic and there have been consequential reforms to deal with issues. Despite these developments the overall conclusion is that the section 8 orders have generally stood the test of time and should not be regarded as being beyond their ‘sell‐by’ date.

The Children Act 1989 ended a period of four decades during which the education of children and young people in care was almost entirely neglected. However, it was another 20 years before education took its rightful place at the centre of provision for the care of children away from home. This article considers the contribution made to this process by the Act and its accompanying Guidance, what progress has been made and what were the obstacles, past and continuing, that have made it so difficult to narrow the gap in attainment between looked‐after children and others.

Early years policy and services have been subjected to substantial and rapid reform over the past 20 years. This article provides a brief overview of legislative and policy changes over this period, with a particular focus on regulation and workforce issues, and traces the enduring influence of the Children Act 1989 to the present. It identifies a paradigm shift in early years services from a world view based on public health and care and on devolution of responsibility, to one in which promoting children's learning and development is core and centralised regulation and national standards are seen as essential. This is reflected in changed responsibilities at government department and regulatory body level. Despite these major changes, the article concludes that the key principles of the Act ‐ in terms of children's rights, parents' responsibilities, listening to children and inter‐agency co‐operation ‐ are still apparent.