© 2001 by Oxford University Press
Family Assistance Orders and the Children Act 1989: Ambivalence About Intervention or a Means of Safeguarding and Promoting Children's Welfare?
1 Health and Social Welfare, The School of Health and Social Welfare, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
This paper considers a little used provision of the 1989 Children Act (England and Wales), the Family Assistance Order. This Order, has been made infrequently, despite its capacity to provide a means of supporting families through the transition, change and potential difficulties which separations, divorce and building of new family units may involve. The paper argues that there are ambiguities in the current framework for the Order, reviews research into its implementation and discusses the social work processes that can happen within such an intervention. Some possibilities for the future existence of the Family Assistance Order are suggested for debate. These are set in the context of current policy initiatives to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and the newly created structure, the Children and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS). The paper concludes by considering how the ambiguities in the implementation of this Order might reflect some wider concerns and debates in a range of countries about intervention into the lives of children subject to family proceedings and their families.