Child welfare services would benefit from a radical rethinking of methods of delivery. As matters now stand, stigmatized services are provided for stigmatized groups (specifically, the children of poor and minority ethnic groups). It is useful to differentiate the social provisions relating to children in need into three categories: (1) truly preventive services, including universal provisions for all children and selective provision for high-risk children; (2) preventive/protective services--in other words, services as presently provided; and (3) "in-care" or substitute care services--for example, child welfare services. Preventive/protective services are likely to be crude, inadequate, ineffectual, and inappropriate. In-care or substitute care services are by definition and design "residualist," or end-of-the-line. Providing services only when a child's primary social support networks break down does not remedy longstanding social ills, nor does it effectively meet new and emerging social needs. Adequate social service provision would remove disadvantages for children and minimize the possibility of deficits. Broadly based community health and social service systems, in which multidisciplinary teams could have access to a wide range of needed resources, could more adequately serve children than could other means of service delivery. While no panacea, universality is the only principle permitting appropriate response on a societal level to modern needs. (RH)