The contemporary politics of child protection

This paper outlines and analyses the main political factors that have had an influence on the current state of child protection policy and practice. These often contradictory influences are crucial to understanding the tensions that pervade this area of work and which lie at the heart of the Children Act 1989. It argues that the emergence of contemporary child protection work can be characterised by an increased emphasis on individual rights, legalism and the attempt to identify “likely significant harm.” These are problems for the modern liberal state and society more generally rather than simply social work and the personal social services as is often assumed.