The North American approach to child protection is broadly accepted, despite frequent criticisms of its core limitations: parental fear and resistance, the limited range of services and supports available to families, escalating costs, and high stress and turnover among service providers. Could these shortcomings be improved through organizational or system reform? Based on findings from a decade's worth of research, Creating Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare provides original reflections on the everyday realities of families and front-line service providers involved with the system. It includes data from a variety of regions and situations, all linked together through a common investigatory framework. The contributors highlight areas of concern in current approaches to child and family welfare, but also propose new solutions that would make the system more welcoming and helpful both for families and for service providers.

This accessible, up-to-date account of the chronic issues plaguing child care reform offers viable solutions drawn from a model state child care system in the state of North Carolina. Original data illustrates the complex landscape of US child care, as well as the ambiguous relationship society has with the statistic that 64% of women with children under six are employed and in need of reliable, high-quality care of their young children. Book Features: The history and demographics of US child care policy. Analysis of several persistent forces impeding the emergence of a national child care system. Contemporary ideas about motherhood, employment, and providing child care for pay. An extensive review of research on child care and child development. Recommendations focusing on policy integration and workforce development.

In this book, the authors present current research in the study of child abuse indicators, psychological impact and prevention. Topics discussed in this compilation include the link between mistreatment and obesity in childhood; child maltreatment prevalence and consequences of victimisation; bone disease and fractures in early childhood and their relation to child abuse; managing the risk of child sexual abuse including prevention and intervention strategies; addressing childhood trauma in Malta; the role of child sexual abuse in the development of psychopathology and borderline personality disorder.

'The first edition of this book set a milestone in writing about under threes. This second edition builds on that great achievement: its thinking about loving interactions in nurseries marks it out for its bravery and profound importance for a new generation of practice'
-Peter Elfer, University of Roehampton

'The authors skilfully interlace theory and practice, foregrounding an ethic of respect and prompting critical reflection and dialogue'
-Dr Sacha Powell, Reader in Early Childhood, Canterbury Christ Church University

'This clear, authoritative and scholarly book is informed by the authors' huge respect and affection for young children and those who work with them. A must-read'
-Helen Moylett, Early Learning Consultancy

This book is essential for all who work with children under three. Due to its combination of theory and practice, clear writing and pedagogical material. The second edition contains extensive updates on policy, new case studies, and activities from current settings.

This revised edition emphasises:

-child development and learning

-attachment/key person relationships

-planning the environment for babies

-understanding every child

-working with parents

This book will be useful to those on initial training courses, such as Foundation degrees, NVQ, BA Education and Early Childhood Studies, and for managers and practitioners undertaking CPD.

Jools Page teaches on the MA in Early Childhood Education at the University of Sheffield.

Ann Clare is an Associate Tutor at the University of Sheffield.

Cathy Nutbrown is Head of the School of Education at the University of Sheffield.

The United States spends more on programs for the elderly than it does on programs that enhance child development and improve child welfare. Why has public policy neglected the development phase of young Americans' lives not only in substantive dollars spent, but also in program design and implementation? Noted child care and education policy expert William Gormley highlights the portrayal of children's issues in both the mass media and in public policymaking to explain why children have gotten short shrift. A key explanation is the limited mass media coverage of strong arguments in support of children's programs.

After documenting changes in rhetoric on children and public policy over time and variations across policy domains and government venues, Gormley demonstrates that some "issue frames" are more effective than others in persuading voters. In two randomized experiments, he finds that "economic" frames are more effective than "moralistic" frames in generating public support for children's programs. Independent voters are especially responsive to economic frames. In several illuminating case studies, in Connecticut, Utah, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, he finds that strong rhetoric makes a difference but that it is sometimes eclipsed by even stronger political and economic constraints.

"Voices for Children" offers a fresh perspective on raging debates over child health, child poverty, child welfare, and education programs at the federal and state levels. It finds some hopeful examples that could transform how we think about children's issues and the kinds of public policies we adopt.

Family abduction is the most prevalent form of child abduction in the United States. Regardless of the abductor's motive, it is an illegal act that has lasting consequences for the abducted child, the custodial parent and the abducting family member. Written with the help of six persons who have experienced family abduction, this book features valuable insights from a firsthand perspective. It is designed to provide the searching family, law enforcement and mental health professionals with strategies to build a comprehensive, child-centred approach to recovery and healing, and to support victims subjected to the crime of family abduction.

"Investing in Children: Work, Education, and Social Policy in Two Rich Countries" presents new research by leading scholars in Australia and the United States on economic factors that influence children's development and the respective social policies that the two nations have designed to boost human capital development.

The volume is organized around three major issues: parental employment, early childhood education and child care, and postsecondary education. All three issues are intimately linked with human capital development. Since both Australia and the United States have created extensive policies to address these three issues, there is potential for each to learn from the other's experiences and policies. This volume helps fulfill that potential.

The authors demonstrate that in both nations, the effects of low family income and income inequality emerge early in life and persist. However, policies that increase parental employment, augment family income, and promote quality preschool and postsecondary education can boost children's development and at least partially offset the negative developmental effects of family economic disadvantage.

This book highlights a report to Congress which outlines the findings of two adoption-research studies conducted as part of The Collaboration to AdoptUsKids. In the first study, a nationwide purposive sample of 300 families seeking to adopt children with special needs from the public child welfare system was selected, interviewed and surveyed to determine actual and potential barriers to the completion of the adoption process. In the second study, a four-year prospective examination of a nationwide sample of 161 families who had adopted children with special needs was conducted in order to determine factors that contributed to successful adoption outcomes.

When Shane Dunphy starts work at Little Scamps creche, he has no idea what he has let himself in for. He had not worked in an early years setting for many years and on arriving for his first day he found that two members of staff, Susan and Tush, are at the end of their tether and on the verge of resigning. The children themselves are completely out of control. At the centre of this chaos Shane finds Tammy, a pretty, doll-like five-year-old who is a mystery to everyone: she does not talk, or even smile, yet shows signs of remarkable intelligence. Through the course of the year, Shane attempts to bring order to this motley group and we learn the stories of some of the other children in the creche: Milandra, an angry, violent four year old, the daughter of a Nigerian father and Irish mother; Rufus, a gypsy child who is direly neglected; Julie, a tiny, painfully shy little girl with Down's Syndrome. How is Shane ever to find a way to communicate with and ultimately befriend such diverse and challenging personalities? Then one afternoon, Gus, the class tear away, receives the gift of a blue crayon - a crayon he claims is magic. And Shane begins to wonder if this magic could be the answer to all his problems ... Shane Dunphy's moving portrait of a year at Little Scamps is a testament to the redemptive power of love and nurturing, of finding oneself through the care of others, as well as finding the secret of a girl who couldn't smile.

While most young people have access to emotional and financial support systems throughout their early adult years, older youth in foster care and those who are emancipated from care often face obstacles to developing independent living skills and building supports that ease the transition to adulthood. Older foster youth who return to their parents or guardians may continue to experience poor family dynamics or a lack of emotional and financial supports. This book provides an overview of the federal foster care system and provisions in federal foster care law that are intended to help prepare youth for adulthood.

Across 30 chapters, a team of experienced teachers and practitioners introduce the fundamental professional issues concerning children, young people and their families in the 21st century. Working with Children and Families explores the diverse contexts in which children develop, and the policies and practices that directly affect them - essential knowledge for effective practice. Offering a multidisciplinary approach, this inclusive text gives a broad range of perspectives to support the study of children and childhood. Take a look inside to discover more about: - Key policies and agendas: introduces the policies, agendas and government guidance that serve as the foundation of children's services. - Contemporary issues: tackles complex topics such as anti-discriminatory and ethical practice, child protection and safeguarding. - Reflective practice: offers reflective activities throughout to help you engage, understand and apply knowledge in practice. - Diversity: helps you understand the variety of backgrounds and experiences children may have - from sociological, psychological, educational and cultural perspectives. - Integrative working: focuses holistically on the child, rather than on specific professional approaches, offering insight into important themes in all areas of work with children. This text offers a broad basis from which to launch into any area of work or study involving children, including early years, social work, education, social policy, nursing, sociology and childhood studies. It is great introductory reading for foundation and undergraduate degree level students.

This book provides analysis, recommendations and laws on youth safety on the internet and explores a host of collaborative and multi-faceted initiatives and approaches to enhance online safety via innovation and co-operation.

Why the United States has failed to establish a comprehensive high-quality child care program is the question at the center of this book. Edward Zigler has been intimately involved in this issue since the 1970s, and here he presents a firsthand history of the policy making and politics surrounding this important debate. Good-quality child care supports cognitive, social, and emotional development, school readiness, and academic achievement. This book examines the history of child care policy since 1969, including the inside story of America's one great attempt to create a comprehensive system of child care, its failure, and the lack of subsequent progress. Identifying specific issues that persist today, Zigler and his coauthors conclude with an agenda designed to lead us successfully toward quality care for America's children.

Millions of children in the United States have a parent who is incarcerated and a growing number of these nurturers are mothers. Disrupted Childhoods explores the issues that arise from a mother's confinement and provides first-person accounts of the experiences of children with mothers behind bars. Jane A. Siegel offers a perspective that recognizes differences over the long course of a family's interaction with the criminal justice system. Presenting an unparalleled view into the children's lives both before and after their mothers are imprisoned, this book reveals the many challenges they face from the moment such a critical caregiver is arrested to the time she returns home from prison. Based on interviews with nearly seventy youngsters and their mothers conducted at different points of their parent's involvement in the process, the rich qualitative data of Disrupted Childhoods vividly reveals the lived experiences of prisoners' children, telling their stories in their own words. Siegel places the mother's incarceration in context with other aspects of the youths' experiences, including their family life and social worlds, and provides a unique opportunity to hear the voices of a group that has been largely silent until now. Jane A. Siegel is an associate professor of criminology at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey and chair of the department of sociology, anthropology, and criminal justice. She has published numerous articles on the long-term consequences of child sexual abuse, risk factors for victimization, and the effects of parental incarceration.

Each day the safety and well-being of children across the Nation are threatened by child abuse and neglect. Intervening effectively in the lives of these children and their families is not the sole responsibility of a single agency or professional group, but a shared community concern. This book provides a foundation for understanding child maltreatment and the roles and responsibilities of various practitioners in its prevention, identification, assessment, and treatment. The courts play a central role in making decisions regarding the protection of children who have been maltreated. Understanding this process is crucial for any professional involved in child protection. By having a thorough knowledge of this legal process and by working in partnership with the courts, child protective services (CPS) caseworkers and other professionals can work toward the safety, permanency, and well-being of children more effectively.

Practice and legislation in child and family social work is always changing and has once again come under the spotlight in the UK. This book contextualizes the bureaucratization and managerialism of modern UK social work, while also covering the advanced and complex skills necessary for competent social work practice in this area. The recent introduction of a new framework for post-qualifying social work practice provides an opportunity for the development of a robust text covering the basics at an advanced level.

At a time when problems of crime and antisocial behaviour stimulate debate on big society solutions, this book provides an exceptional means of tracing a line of response which began at the end of the 18th century. Nipping Crime in the Bud explores the origins and development of the Philanthropic Society (and its influence on contemporary institutions) amid growing alarm about crime levels, Draconian sentences under England's Bloody Code and a paucity of effective crime prevention measures. Driven by Enlightenment zeal and ideals, this was the first voluntary sector charity devoted to 'nipping crime in the bud'. It did so through education, training, accommodation, mentoring and support for young people. Uniquely, the book traces the first hard won policy networks and partnerships between government and the voluntary sector. It reveals how-sometimes against the odds, with funding on a knife edge but constantly striving for effective answers-influential philanthropists rose to the challenge and changed approaches to young people involved in crime and delinquency, traces of which endure today within the great crime prevention charities which still rally to this cause. Muriel Whitten's book draws on previously neglected archival sources and other first-hand research to create a formidable and illuminating account about what, for many people, will be a missing chapter in English social and legal history. Review 'Describes in colourful detail the background to the founding of the Society and how its founders and their successors worked. It explains how their plans were put into practice, how they governed and how they acquired support. It skilfully deals with questions that are still asked today such as to what extent are children to be held responsible for wrongdoing? ... Dr Whitten is admirably suited to write such a book ... and] her knowledge and experience are distilled in this comprehensive and well-written book': John Hostettler, legal historian. Read the full review Author Dr. Muriel Whitten has been a youth and family court magistrate and a member of West Sussex Probation Committee. She has lectured widely on criminal justice matters at Goldsmith's and Birkbeck (University of London), the University of Ulster and has presented for CENTREX (now the National Policing Improvement Agency). She has also contributed a weekly column to the Belfast News Letter.

Traditional ways of working with children and young people are giving way to new practices. Where practice solutions previously tended to be imposed on children and young people, professionals are now looking to engage them as vital partners in actively negotiated and co-constructed models of working. Combining social ecological and social constructionist perspectives drawn from a range of academic and practice disciplines, Working with Children and Young People explores and interrogates how ideas about childhood, policy and professional discourses change over time and, in turn, affect the issues faced by young people and their families. In particular, this important text: develops a critical and reflective approach to knowledge and practice explored vividly across a wide range of practice settings presents a new vision, where the focus is centrally on the child or young person and where dominant ideas are challenged explores how key concerns, such as professional power and children's rights, embed themselves in working relationships. Working with Children and Young People provides an innovative critical framework for all students on vocational and professional courses involving work with children and young people. It also offers illuminating reading for practitioners working with the 0-18 age group, whether in the statutory, voluntary or private sectors.

* Includes full explanation of the requirements and terminology of the new Level 3 qualification, so learners and tutors can feel confident that they are fully supported. * Written by Penny Tassoni and a team of expert childcare tutors and trainers, so you can be sure that content is reliable , relevant and of the highest quality . * Contains a CD-ROM which includes bonus content of short video clips to bring selected topics to life. * New 'Working Life' feature pages help learners relate knowledge to their own settings.

In Licensing Parents, Michael McFall argues that political structures, economics, education, racism, and sexism are secondary in importance to the inequality caused by families, and that the family plays the primary role in a child's acquisition of a sense of justice. He demonstrates that examination of the family is necessary in political philosophy and that informal structures (families) and considerations (character formation) must be taken seriously. McFall advocates a threshold that should be accepted by all political philosophers: children should not be severely abused or neglected because child maltreatment often causes deep and irreparable individual and societal harm. The implications of this threshold are revolutionary, but this is not recognized fully because no philosophical book has systematically considered the ethical or political ramifications of child maltreatment. By exposing a tension between the rights of children and adults, McFall reveals pervasive ageism; parental rights usually trump children's rights, and this is often justified because children are not fully autonomous. Yet parental rights should not always trump children's rights. Ethics and political philosophy are not only about rights, but also about duties_especially when considering potential parents who are unable or unwilling to provide minimally decent nurturance. While contemporary political philosophy focuses on adult rights, McFall examines systems whereby the interests and rights of children and parents are better balanced. This entails exploring when parental rights are defeasible and defending the ethics of licensing parents, whereby some people are precluded from rearing children. He argues that, if a sense of justice is largely developed in childhood, parents directly influence the character of future generations of adults in political society. A completely stable and well-ordered society needs stable and psychologically healthy citizens in addition to just laws, and McFall demonstrates how parental love and healthy families can help achieve this.

How do you spot the signs that a young person has been victimised? What do you do if you are approached by a young person who has been affected by crime or bullying? What is the impact of crime and how can you best aid the young person's recovery? Are You Okay deals with these issues that many adults may face when trying to help a young person in their care in the aftermath of a crime. It provides detailed information on the different types of crime from assault and hate crime to cyberbullying and sexual abuse, and explores how they may affect the young person in different ways. The author also addresses difficult issues such as dealing with fears of retaliation, confidentiality and whether a crime should be reported, the grey area between crime and bullying and how best to assess the young person's needs. This accessible guide will be essential reading for anyone working with children and young people aged 8+, including social workers, youth workers, teachers, police, education welfare officers and victim support and witness service workers. a

Art-based activities can develop resilience and self-esteem, enabling children in need to cope better with ongoing stress and loss. Arts Activities for Children and Young People in Need offers interventions and exercises drawn from practice and research, for practitioners to use as a basis for their own arts-based groups or one-to-one sessions. Holistic arts activities facilitate a spiritually sensitive approach. Mindfulness-based exercises underpin the approach, and include guided meditations in which a group imagines that they are clouds, or draw feelings and emotions while listening to music, to encourage awareness of the senses. The activities help the group to relax and become more self-aware, encourage an exploration of feelings, values and understanding and are beneficial for children not ready to embrace traditional therapies or counselling. This book is accessible and suitable for helping, health and education practitioners and students from a variety of disciplines, such as social work, psychology and counselling.

Ethis is a vital issue for youth workers. Youth work projects are often established to encourage an ethical purpose among young people and this book helps youth workers to think about ways of developing ethical reflection in young people. It considers the establishment of organisations, by neighbourhoods and networks, to express an ethical purpose among young people. Youth work professionals will learn how to site their practice within the professional code and work in complex and unpredictable contexts. The book also encourages youth workers to think about the development of ethical reflection by young people.