4.—(1) Where it appears to F20[the F21[Child and Family Agency] that a child requires] care or protection that he is unlikely to receive unless he is taken into its care, it shall be the duty of F20[the F22[Agency]] to take him into its care under this section.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of Parts III, IV F23[, IVA (as amended by the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011)] and VI, nothing in this section shall authorise F24[the F21[Child and Family Agency]] to take a child into its care against the wishes of a parent having custody of him or of any person acting in loco parentis or to maintain him in its care under this section if that parent or any such person wishes to resume care of him.

(3) Where F25[the F21[Child and Family Agency]] has taken a child into its care under this section, it shall be the duty of F25[the F22[Agency]]—

(a) subject to the provisions of this section, to maintain the child in its care so long as his welfare appears to F25[the F22[Agency]] to require it and while he remains a child, and

(b) to have regard to the wishes of a parent having custody of him or of any person acting in loco parentis in the provision of such care.

(4) Without prejudice to the provisions of Parts III, IV and VI, where F26[the F21[Child and Family Agency]] takes a child into its care because it appears that he is lost or that a parent having custody of him is missing or that he has been deserted or abandoned, F26[the F22[Agency]] shall endeavour to reunite him with that parent where this appears to F26[the F22[Agency]] to be in his best interests.

(5) F27[A child who was taken into care under this section by the Health Service Executive before the coming into operation of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 and who is in the care of the Health Service Executive immediately before the establishment day of that Agency shall be deemed to have been taken into care by the Agency and to be in its care on and from that day.]