Abstract
This analysis of comprehensive statutory change in Britain points to inherent limitations in using legislative mandates as tools for child welfare reform. The task of reshaping statutory principles requires delicate trade-offs that can often be accomplished only by retreating to abstract language and tacit presumptions and thus by deferring important, concrete choices to implementation procedures. These complexities restrict the ability of mandates to accomplish two traditional goals: sending clear signals for policy implementation and providing specific criteria for judging policy outcomes. The British Children Act 1989 introduces subtle shifts in priorities among competing social values, whose guarded expression burdens the clarity and specificity of mandates. Whether or not their results are ultimately beneficial, such reform strategies increase the tensions and uncertainties under which social workers and others carry out their practical responsibilities.