Each year many children and young persons are placed on legal supervision by Court order. In 1981 legal supervision was the outcome in 26% (3,397) of all finalised· Children and Young Persons Court appearances. The study reported in this paper was commissioned to provide a description of what legal supervision involves. It was based on a survey of all social workers having recent experience with legal supervision. This paper includes a summary of basic statistical information, a description of the study population, an analysis of questionnaire responses and conclusions and recommendation.