For over 30 years, section 17 has been the north star of working with children and families for local authorities. In just 773 words, it sets a tone and expectation for family support, and for promoting and supporting family strength, in a way that no other legislative framework for the care and welfare of children has come close to.
One of section 17’s most family support-orientated approaches was the inclusion of a gradient of needs (in parts 10 and 11 of the legislation) for anyone so inclined. Despite this, section 17 came to take on a particular meaning – entry to children’s social care towards the acute end of thresholds. In other words, a category rather than a continuum.
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