Definitions for Children Act 1989 - CA 1989 s. 105
Defines key terms used in the Children Act 1989, including 'child', 'care order', 'local authority', 'harm', to ensure consistent interpretation.
In this Act— “ activity condition ” has the meaning given by section 11C; “ activity direction ” has the meaning given by section 11A; “ adoption agency ” means a body which may be referred to as an adoption agency by virtue of section 2 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 ; ... “ bank holiday ” means a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971; “care home”— has the same meaning as in the Care Standards Act 2000 in respect of a care home in England; and means a place in Wales at which a care home service within the meaning of Part 1 of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 is provided wholly or mainly to persons aged 18 or over;” “ care order ” has the meaning given by section 31(11) and also includes any order which by or under any enactment has the effect of, or is deemed to be, a care order for the purposes of this Act; and any reference to a child who is in the care of an authority is a reference to a child who is in their care by virtue of a care order; “ child ” means, subject to paragraph 16 of Schedule 1, a person under the age of eighteen; “ child arrangements order ” has the meaning given by section 8(1); “ child assessment order ” has the meaning given by section 43(2); “ child minder ” has the meaning given by section 71; “ child of the family ”, in relation to parties to a marriage, or to two people who are civil partners of each other, means— a child of both of them, and any other child, other than a child placed with them as foster parents by a local authority or voluntary organisation, who has been treated by both of them as a child of their family ; “children’s home”— has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of the Care Standards Act 2000 in respect of a children’s home in England (see section 1 of that Act); and means a place in Wales at which— a care home service is provided wholly or mainly to children, or a secure accommodation service is provided, and in this paragraph “care home service” and “secure accommodation service” have the meaning given in Part 1 of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 (anaw 2); ... “ community home ” has the meaning given by section 53; ... ... ... “ day care ” ... has the same meaning as in section 18; “ disabled ”, in relation to a child, has the same meaning as in section 17(11); ... “ domestic premises ” has the meaning given by section 71(12); “dwelling-house” includes— any building or part of a building which is occupied as a dwelling; any caravan, house-boat or structure which is occupied as a dwelling; and any yard, garden, garage or outhouse belonging to it and occupied with it; “ education functions ” has the meaning given by section 579(1) of the Education Act 1996; “ education supervision order ” has the meaning given in section 36; “ emergency protection order ” means an order under section 44; “ enforcement order ” has the meaning given by section 11J; “ family assistance order ” has the meaning given in section 16(2); “ family proceedings ” has the meaning given by section 8(3); “ functions ” includes powers and duties; “ guardian of a child ” means a guardian (other than a guardian of the estate of a child) appointed in accordance with the provisions of section 5; “ harm ” has the same meaning as in section 31(9) and the question of whether harm is significant shall be determined in accordance with section 31(10); ... “ health service hospital ” means a health service hospital within the meaning given by the National Health Service Act 2006 or the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 ; “ hospital ” ... has the same meaning as in the Mental Health Act 1983, except that it does not include a special hospital within the meaning of that Act; “ ill-treatment ” has the same meaning as in section 31(9); “ income-based jobseeker’s allowance ” has the same meaning as in the Jobseekers Act 1995; “ income-related employment and support allowance ” means an income-related allowance under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (employment and support allowance); “independent hospital” in relation to England, means a hospital as defined by section 275 of the National Health Service Act 2006 that is not a health service hospital as defined by that section; and in relation to Wales, has the same meaning as in the Care Standards Act 2000; “ independent school ” has the same meaning as in the Education Act 1996 ; “ integrated care board ” means a body established under section 14Z25 of the National Health Service Act 2006; “ local authority ” means, in relation to England ..., the council of a county, a metropolitan district, a London Borough or the Common Council of the City of London in relation to Wales, the council of a county or a county borough and, in relation to Scotland, a local authority within the meaning of section 1(2) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968; “ local authority foster parent ” has the meaning given in section 22C(12); “local authority foster parent” means a person authorised as such in accordance with regulations made by virtue of— paragraph 12F of Schedule 2; or sections 87 and 93 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (regulations providing for approval of local authority foster parents); ... “ Local Health Board ” means a Local Health Board established under section 11 of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006; “ local housing authority ” has the same meaning as in the Housing Act 1985; “ mental nursing home ” has the same meaning as in the Registered Homes Act 1984; “ nursing home ” has the same meaning as in the Act of 1984; “ officer of the Service ” has the same meaning as in the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000; “ parental responsibility ” has the meaning given in section 3; “ parental responsibility agreement ” has the meaning given in sections 4(1) , 4ZA(4) and 4A(2) ; “ prescribed ” means prescribed by regulations made under this Act; “ private children’s home ” means a children’s home in respect of which a person is registered under Part II of the Care Standards Act 2000 or Part 1 of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 which is not a community home or a voluntary home; ... “ privately fostered child ” and “ to foster a child privately ” have the same meaning as in section 66; “ prohibited steps order ” has the meaning given by section 8(1); ... “ registered children’s home ” has the same meaning as in section 63; “ registered pupil ” has the same meaning as in the Education Act 1996 ; “ relative ”, in relation to a child, means a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt (whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership) or step-parent; ... “ residential care home ” has the same meaning as in the Registered Homes Act 1984 and “small home” has the meaning given by section 1(4A) of that Act ; “ responsible person ”, in relation to a child who is the subject of a supervision order, has the meaning given in paragraph 1 of Schedule 3; “ school ” has the same meaning as in the Education Act 1996 or, in relation to Scotland, in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980; “ section 31A plan ” has the meaning given by section 31A(6); “ service ”, in relation to any provision made under Part III, includes any facility; “ signed ”, in relation to any person, includes the making by that person of his mark; “ special educational needs ” has the same meaning as in the Education Act 1996 ; “ special guardian ” and “ special guardianship order ” have the meaning given by section 14A; “ Special Health Authority ” means a Special Health Authority established under section 28 of the National Health Service Act 2006 or section 22 of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006, ; “ specific issue order ” has the meaning given by section 8(1); ... “ supervision order ” has the meaning given by section 31(11); “ supervised child ” and “ supervisor ”, in relation to a supervision order or an education supervision order, mean respectively the child who is (or is to be) under supervision and the person under whose supervision he is (or is to be) by virtue of the order; “ upbringing ”, in relation to any child, includes the care of the child but not his maintenance; “ voluntary home ” has the meaning given by section 60; “ voluntary organisation ” means a body (other than a public or local authority) whose activities are not carried on for profit; “ Welsh family proceedings officer ” has the meaning given by section 35 of the Children Act 2004. References in this Act to a child whose father and mother were, or (as the case may be) were not, married to , or civil partners of, each other at the time of his birth must be read with section 1 of the Family Law Reform Act 1987 (which extends the meaning of such references). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References in this Act to a child who is looked after— in relation to a child who is looked after by a local authority in England, has the meaning given in section 22; and in relation to a child who is looked after by a local authority in Wales, has the meaning given in section 74 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (child or young person looked after by a local authority). References in this Act to accommodation provided by or on behalf of a local authority are references to accommodation so provided in the exercise of functions of that or any other local authority which are social services functions .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References in this Act to acting as a child minder and to a child minder shall be construed, in relation to Scotland, in accordance with section 2(17) of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 (asp 8). In subsection (5) “social services functions” means— in England, social services functions within the meaning of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970, and in Wales, social services functions within the meaning of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. In determining the “ordinary residence” of a child for any purpose of this Act, there shall be disregarded any period in which he lives in any place— which is a school or other institution; in accordance with the requirements of a supervision order under this Act ...; in accordance with the requirements of a youth rehabilitation order under Chapter 1 of Part 9 of the Sentencing Code ; or while he is being provided with accommodation by or on behalf of a local authority. References in this Act to children who are in need shall be construed in accordance with section 17. References in this Act to a hospital or accommodation made available or provided pursuant to arrangements made by the Secretary of State under the National Health Service Act 2006 are references to a hospital or accommodation made available or provided pursuant to arrangements so made in the exercise of the public health functions of the Secretary of State (within the meaning of that Act). References in this Act to arrangements made by NHS England or an integrated care board under the National Health Service Act 2006 include references to arrangements so made in the exercise of functions of another person by virtue of any provision of that Act. Any notice or other document required under this Act to be served on any person may be served on him by being delivered personally to him, or being sent by post to him in a registered letter or by the recorded delivery service at his proper address. Any such notice or other document required to be served on a body corporate or a firm shall be duly served if it is served on the secretary or clerk of that body or a partner of that firm. For the purposes of this section, and of section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 in its application to this section, the proper address of a person— in the case of a secretary or clerk of a body corporate, shall be that of the registered or principal office of that body; in the case of a partner of a firm, shall be that of the principal office of the firm; and in any other case, shall be the last known address of the person to be served.
Text in force at .
Source: legislation.gov.uk — The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), reproduced under licence Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it actually says
This section is the dictionary for the Children Act 1989. It sets out the meaning of dozens of terms that appear throughout the Act, such as 'child' (a person under 18), 'care order', 'local authority', 'harm', 'parental responsibility', and many others. The definitions are fixed and must be used whenever those words appear in the Act, unless a different meaning is expressly given elsewhere.
Because the Act covers children's welfare, care proceedings, and local authority duties, these definitions are essential for understanding who is a child, what counts as harm, which bodies are local authorities, and what orders like care orders actually mean. The section also cross-references other Acts, for example adopting the definition of 'bank holiday' from the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971.
This is not a substantive power or duty; it is a technical interpretation clause. If you are reading a different section of the Children Act, you should check here to see if a key term is defined.
When it applies
- A court is deciding whether a 17-year-old is a 'child' for the purpose of making a care order.
- A local authority social worker needs to know whether the definition of 'harm' includes emotional abuse in a child protection case.
- A parent disputes whether a relative qualifies as a 'relative' under the Act (e.g., a step-parent or half-sibling).
- A judge must determine if a particular order is a 'care order' or 'supervision order' based on the definitions in this section.
- A solicitor checks whether a 'child arrangements order' falls under the definition in section 8(1) as cross-referenced here.
What this section does not say
- This section does not tell you how to apply for a care order or what the legal test is for making one.
- It does not define financial support amounts or eligibility for benefits.
- It does not set out the rights of parents or children beyond what the terms themselves imply.
- It does not contain definitions for terms used only in other Acts, unless specifically cross-referenced.
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This page reproduces the text of CA 1989 s. 105 in force at the date shown and explains it in general terms. It is not legal advice and takes no account of the circumstances of your case, which can change the answer completely. For a live dispute, for limitation periods, and before taking any step in court, consult a qualified lawyer in England and Wales.