The care and protection laws apply to children up to and including the age of 17. Once you turn 18, you can’t be dealt with under those laws.
This used to be different. Before April 2017 the ages only went up to age 16, so that 17 year olds fell outside the care and protection system.
The care and protection laws use different terms to describe:
children up to and including age 13 – they’re a “child”
teenagers aged 14, 15, 16 or 17 – they’re a “young person”.
But in this chapter, to keep things simple, we just use the word “child” to describe anyone who’s under 18 and so covered by the care and protection laws.