{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/child-care-act-1980-repealed-14101991/section-87",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/child-care-act-1980-repealed-14101991/section-87.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1980/5",
  "legislation_title": "Child Care Act 1980 (repealed 14.10.1991)",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/child-care-act-1980-repealed-14101991",
  "path": "section/87",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "87",
  "heading": "Interpretation.",
  "text": "(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—\n“arrears order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 51 of this Act;\n“care order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 20 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969;\n“child” means a person under the age of eighteen years and any person who has attained that age and is the subject of a care order;\n“commission area” has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Justices of the Peace Act 1979;\n“compulsory school age” has the same meaning as in the Education Act 1944;\n“contribution order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 47 of this Act;\n“functions” includes powers and duties;\n“guardian” means a person appointed by deed or will or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction to be the guardian of a child;\n“hospital” has the meaning assigned to it by section 128(1) of the National Health Service Act 1977;\n“instrument of management” means an instrument of management made under section 35 of this Act;\n“interim order”, in relation to a care order, has the meaning assigned to it by section 20 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969;\n“local authority” means the council of a county (other than a metropolitan county), of a metropolitan district or of a London borough or the Common Council of the City of London;\n“local education authority” means a local education authority for the purpose of the Education Act 1944;\n“parent”, in relation to a child who is illegitimate, means his mother, to the exclusion of his father;\n“planning area” had the meaning assigned to it by section 31(1) of this Act;\n“regional plan” has the meaning assigned to it by section 32(1) of this Act;\n“relative”, in relation to a child, means a grand-parent, brother, sister uncle or aunt, whether of the full blood, of the half blood, or by affinity, and includes, where the child is illegitimate, the father of the child and any person who would be a relative of the child within the meaning of this definition if the child were the legitimate child of his mother and father;\n“the relevant authorities”, in relation to a planning area, has the meaning assigned to it by section 31(3) of this Act;\n“supervision requirement” has the same meaning as in the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968;\n“trust deed” has the meaning assigned to it by section 36 of this Act:\n“voluntary home” has the meaning assigned to it by section 56 of this Act;\n“voluntary organisation” means a body the activities of which are carried on otherwise than for profit, but does not include any public or local authority.\n(2) Any reference in this Act to an enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended by any Act of that Parliament or by any Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly, whether passed before or after this Act, and to any enactment of that Parliament or Assembly for the time being in force which re-enacts the said enactment with or without modifications.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "1969 c. 54."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M2",
      "text": "1979 c. 55."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M3",
      "text": "1944 c. 31."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M4",
      "text": "1977 c. 49."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M5",
      "text": "1969 c. 54."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M6",
      "text": "1944 c. 31."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M7",
      "text": "1968 c. 49."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/5/section/87",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T10:16:53.335208+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}