childrens charter

• The Children Act 1908, also known as the Children and Young Pensions Act, was passed by the Liberal government as part of the Liberal reforms, as a way to specify how children in Britain should be looked after.
• • The Children's Charter established juvenile courts and introduced the registration of foster parents, thus trying to end infanticide, as well as granting local authorities powers to keep poor children out of the poorhouses and protect them from abuse.
• • It prohibited the consumption of alcohol, for non-medical purposes, before the age of 5.
  • Also prohibited children from being sent to adult prisons if they committed a severe crime. Instead, there were allocated borstals.
• CHARTER ANALYSIS - FOR

  • Clearly stated what the legal rights of children were, therefore preventing harm done by adults towards young people.
• CHARTER ANALYSIS - AGAINST

  • Borstals were often brutal and helped cause rather than stop crime and reoffending, reversing the aim of the Children's Charter.