First published in 1999, this volume examines the inclusion of disabled children as a category of children in need under the Children Act 1989 and as eligible for assessments of need under the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 has drawn renewed attention to the plight of these children and their families. This book presents the findings from a study of parents whose child has cerebral palsy. The research undertaken at the cost of social policy change focuses on the apparent gap between the well-argued proposals for community care and the experiences of carers. A bewildering picture emerges of inadequate services and treatments from the health, education and social services in the public, voluntary and private sectors. Parents experience isolation and stress as they explore ways to improve the quality of their children's lives by experimenting with unregulated and under-researched treatments for an incurable physical condition. The conclusion that there has been deterioration in provision for these families is a serious indictment on current social policy direction.

The past few decades have brought to light increasing evidence of systemic and repeated institutional abuse of children and young people in many western nations. Government enquiries, research studies and media reports have begun to highlight the widespread nature of sexual, physical and emotional abuse of vulnerable children and young people. However, while public attention has focused on 'episodic-dramatic' representations of institutional abuse, comparatively little emphasis has been given to the more mundane, routinized and systemic nature of abuse that has occurred. This book documents comprehensively a full range of abuse occurring in 'caring' and 'protective' institutions, with particular reference to the Australian case. The dominant theme is 'betrayal' and in particular the ways in which agencies charged with the care and protection of children and young people become the sites of abusive practices. The authors draw on a range of theoretical frameworks to explore issues of trust and betrayal in the context of the professional and ethical obligations which workers have to those in their charge. The authors argue that it is not sufficient merely to report on accounts of institutional abuse or the consequences of particular practices; rather it is necessary to locate the prevalence of institutional abuse in the wider context of institutional practices as they relate to the 'governance' of particular sections of the population.

Over the past decade, urban communities have experienced unprecedented social, economic, and political transformation. Globalization and de-industrialization have contributed to the exodus of jobs, produced higher levels of inequality, and consequent, furthered marginalization of the urban poor. Urban youth have been particularly affected by this transformation. The failure of urban school districts and the lack of jobs, health services and effective prevention and intervention programs have placed large numbers of low-income urban youth at risk. In the absence of policies and institutions that respond to the needs of youth, a climate of fear focused particularly on responding to fears of youth crime has also shaped a national consciousness about urban communities and the youth within them.
"Urban Youth and Community" "Change" brings together work by leading scholars who study urban youth and who have a grounded knowledge of the issues they face. A commitment to social justice and equity is a unifying theme for this volume, and each of the authors examines to varying degrees how such values and commitments can be incorporated into public policy. The goal of this edited volume is to draw on the knowledge and expertise of these scholars from various academic disciplines and to share with policymakers and the general public insights into the impact of punitive/zero tolerance policies on young people's educational experience and well being. These chapters also offer new ideas about how to support youth placed at risk by deteriorating circumstances in urban areas and offers recommendations on how to create more humane and responsive youth policies at the local, state and federal level.

The failure of current policy to address important quality of life issues for urban youth remains a substantial barrier to civic participation, educational equity, and healthy adulthood. This volume brings together the work of leading urban youth scholars to highlight the detrimental impact of zero tolerance policies on young peoplea (TM)s educational experience and well being. Inspired by the conviction that urban youth have the right to more equitable educational and social resources and political representation, Beyond Resistance! offers new insights into how to increase the effectiveness of youth development and education programs, and how to create responsive youth policies at the local, state, and federal level.

With the issue of childcare high on the New Labour agenda, this is a subject that is often in the media spotlight, and one that will continue to spark heated debate both in the UK and around the world. This book presents a substantive study of childcare policy and practice, examining middle class parents' choice of childcare within the wider contexts of social class and class fractions, social reproduction, gendered responsibilities and conceptions of 'good' parenting.
Drawing on the results of a qualitative empirical study of two groups of middle class parents living in two London localities, this book:
- takes into account key theoretical frameworks in childcare policy, setting them in a broader social, political and economic context;
- considers the development of the UK government's childcare strategy from its birth in 1998 to the present day;
- highlights the critical debates surrounding middle class families and their choice of childcare;
- explores parents' experiences of childcare and their relationships with carers.
This book offers important and invaluable insights into a complex subject, and will be essential reading for academics, students, policy makers and all those involved in the childcare market.

With the issue of childcare high on the New Labour agenda, this is a subject that is often in the media spotlight, and one that will continue to spark heated debate both in the UK and around the world. This book presents a substantive study of childcare policy and practice, examining middle class parents' choice of childcare within the wider contexts of social class and class fractions, social reproduction, gendered responsibilities and conceptions of 'good' parenting.
Drawing on the results of a qualitative empirical study of two groups of middle class parents living in two London localities, this book:
- takes into account key theoretical frameworks in childcare policy, setting them in a broader social, political and economic context;
- considers the development of the UK government's childcare strategy from its birth in 1998 to the present day;
- highlights the critical debates surrounding middle class families and their choice of childcare;
- explores parents' experiences of childcare and their relationships with carers.
This book offers important and invaluable insights into a complex subject, and will be essential reading for academics, students, policy makers and all those involved in the childcare market.

Based on research from the Thomas Coram Research Unit, the contributors to this text look at the views and experiences of young people and provide an encouraging outlook of what those in care have the potential to achieve. Those factors that help to result in more successful outcomes are identified, and policy recommendations are made, for enabling young people in and leaving care to triumph when the odds are stacked against them.

In Care and After adds a new dimension to the current literature on local authority care of young people and children. Those working within the fields of social care, health and education as well as students on social work courses will find this essential reading and a welcome addition.

In the last 20 years, state care in China has shifted away from institutional care, towards alternative care that recognises children's rights to an inclusive childhood and adulthood. This book reviews changes in policy and practices that affected the generation of young people who grew up in state care in China during this time. The young people themselves give their perspectives on their childhood, their current experiences and their future plans for independence. These insights, combined with analysis of national state care datasets and policy documents, provide answers to questions about the impact of different types of alternative care on young people's experiences, the impact on their identity and their capacity to live independently, finding a job, a home and relationships. All countries continue to struggle with how to improve the quality child protection practices and alternatives to group care. The results here provide evidence to researchers, governments and professionals to help to improve social inclusion by changing institutionalisation practices.

Discover the effective group treatment strategies that help your school-aged clients! A child immersed in a conflicted family life may be forced to cope with a multitude of trauma, including violence, abuse, and insecurity. In A Safe Place to Grow: A Group Treatment Manual for Children in Conflicted, Violent, and Separating Homes, highly respected experts give mental health professionals the tools to provide effective group treatment for children scarred by family environments of conflict and abuse. This easy-to-understand, step-by-step manual is a developmentally appropriate treatment curriculum for traumatized school-aged children. Age-appropriate sections separate therapy for big or little kids, focusing on efficacy while presenting a comfortable multi-ethnic, multi-cultural model. A Safe Place to Grow has easy-to-understand descriptions of techniques, with each session in the curriculum containing games and activities that are therapeutic yet flexible enough to be modified whenever the situation warrants. A chapter is included to helpfully troubleshoot problems encountered when in session with either age group of children. Useful illustrations accompany the text, along with a comprehensive bibliography listing additional therapeutic resources for different types of family problems. Appendixes are included for instruction on psycho-educational groups for parents that enhance their sensitivity to their children's needs, as well as providing an evaluation study of the group model itself. A Safe Place to Grow provides a sequence of activities within the group model aimed at each of these five goals: creating common ground and safety exploring the language and complexity of feeling defining and understanding the self defining and revising roles and relationships restoring a moral order A Safe Place to Grow is an essential resource for social workers, psychologists, family and child therapists, school counselors, and battered women and children's advocates.

Are socially excluded young people becoming an 'underclass', expecting everything but doing nothing to help themselves? Or are adults the problem - ignoring and exacerbating the real issues facing young people today?
Many young people, especially those suffering exclusion, lack status, rights and power because they fall between the two stools of protection and dependence as children and autonomy and self-determination as adults. They are also often considered by their elders to be rebellious and troublesome, and labelled with phrases such as 'underclass youth' and 'dangerous youth'.
This book critically examines these discriminatory attitudes and looks at the 'problem' of adults rather than the 'problem' of young people. Rather than focusing on the problems that young people present to others in society, this book emphasizes the problems that young people face from others.
The authors ask searching questions about society's capacity and willingness to be more socially inclusive of young people in terms of policy and practice, and explore the extent to which young people have access to status, rights and responsibilities as young adults. The book takes an holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to identifying and analyzing the factors which promote and exacerbate the social inclusion of young people, with contributors examining important themes and issues such as:
- citizenship;
- education;
- rights;
- youth transitions;
- drug use;
- homelessness;
- teenage pregnancy; and
- unemployment.
The book is unique in that young people have also contributed their views on the issues and on the chapters in this book. Each young contributor describestheir direct experiences and draws out the strengths and weaknesses of the academic contributions, suggesting ways forward for a more inclusive society in the future.
"Youth Policy and Social Inclusion" will appeal to a wide audience, including students, practitioners, policy makers and academics in the fields of social policy, social work, sociology, youth and community work, criminology, economics, education, housing and politics.

Are socially excluded young people becoming an 'underclass', expecting everything but doing nothing to help themselves? Or are adults the problem - ignoring and exacerbating the real issues facing young people today?
Many young people, especially those suffering exclusion, lack status, rights and power because they fall between the two stools of protection and dependence as children and autonomy and self-determination as adults. They are also often considered by their elders to be rebellious and troublesome, and labelled with phrases such as 'underclass youth' and 'dangerous youth'.
This book critically examines these discriminatory attitudes and looks at the 'problem' of adults rather than the 'problem' of young people. Rather than focusing on the problems that young people present to others in society, this book emphasizes the problems that young people face from others.
The authors ask searching questions about society's capacity and willingness to be more socially inclusive of young people in terms of policy and practice, and explore the extent to which young people have access to status, rights and responsibilities as young adults. The book takes an holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to identifying and analyzing the factors which promote and exacerbate the social inclusion of young people, with contributors examining important themes and issues such as:
- citizenship;
- education;
- rights;
- youth transitions;
- drug use;
- homelessness;
- teenage pregnancy; and
- unemployment.
The book is unique in that young people have also contributed their views on the issues and on the chapters in this book. Each young contributor describestheir direct experiences and draws out the strengths and weaknesses of the academic contributions, suggesting ways forward for a more inclusive society in the future.
"Youth Policy and Social Inclusion" will appeal to a wide audience, including students, practitioners, policy makers and academics in the fields of social policy, social work, sociology, youth and community work, criminology, economics, education, housing and politics.

Use this newly developed family-oriented approach to be a better youth worker! In A Child and Youth Care Approach to Working with Families, practitioners and trainers in a new child methodology show you how to expand your youth program to involve family work using the Child and Youth Care Approach. This book provides a new way of looking at work with families in which the helpers are involved in the daily life of the families they are supporting. This book will be valuable to practitioners and instructors of the Child and Youth Care Approach as well as to youth workers, foster parents, and social workers who want to develop their own knowledge and skills in working with families. A Child and Youth Care Approach to Working with Families is designed to help youth care workers engage in a working relationship with young people and families that can facilitate change and allow families to live together more effectively with less stress. This book emphasizes that the family be involved in the care and treatment of young people. The authors reveal methods for connecting with each family by reflecting their rules, roles, culture, rhythm, timing, and style. This book will help you: develop your proficiency with the Child and Youth Care Approach to working with families shift from working in residential-only programs to in-home family prevention create as many moments of connection as possible among family members learn what boundaries need to be maintained to gain credibility with families provide effective supervision for staff working with families create activity-oriented family-focused work to develop family relationships and more! The authors of A Child and Youth Care Approach to Working with Families offer unique insight into the successes and failures of those who have moved into this area of helping troubled youths and adolescents. Special features of this book include specific learning exercises and short stories and case scenarios for you to practice alone or with your colleagues, as well as tables and figures. This book will introduce students, practitioners, and programs directors fully to this latest development in the field and help them engage more effectively with families. All royalties from this book will go to support CYC-Net (www.cyc-net.org).

Without access to a public social welfare system in parts of China, some families face invidious decisions about the lives of their children with disabilities. In other places, children with disabilities can now expect to participate in their families and communities with the same aspirations as other children. Understanding how Chinese policy has changed in the places that have addressed these stark situations is vital for the rights of the children and their families who still struggle to find the support they need. This book examines family experiences of child disability policy in China, and is the first to compile research on this area. It applies a child disability rights framework in four domains - care and protection, economic security, development and participation - to investigate families' experiences of the effectiveness of support to fulfil their children's rights. Questioning how families experience the interrelationships between these rights, it also considers what the further implications of the policy are. It includes vivid case studies of families' experiences, and combines these with national data to draw out the likely future policy directions to which the Chinese government has said it is committed. Bringing together a wealth of statistical and qualitative data on children with disabilities, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Chinese social welfare, social policy, society and children's studies, as well as policy-makers and NGOs alike.

First published in 1999, this work draws together a multi-national collection of papers, and aims to stimulate the development of policy and practice in this often neglected area. It aims to offer examples of good social work practice, informed by relevant theoretical insights; to give a voice to kinship foster carers and young people so that practice can be informed by an understanding of their experience; to share the results of current research; to highlight issues for policy makers; and to place the issues in the wider international context of developing social policy, ideology and social change. There are contributions from the UK, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, the US and New Zealand.

'Across Canada efforts have been made to introduce information technology solutions into the health care sector for the past two decades. As with any journey the maps and journals are only produced at the end of the adventure. With this book Dr Shaw has provided a road map that will help guide those physicians who are now thinking about starting down this road or those who may have taken a wrong turn and are trying to make mid-course corrections. Dr Shaw is a health informatician with a wealth of experience in analyzing the impact of using IT in a health care environment. Since coming to Canada she has spent considerable time talking to physicians as well as government and vendors about the status of IT in the Canadian healthcare system. Computerization and Going Paperless in Canadian Primary Care is a dispassionate and scientific analysis of the issues and problems facing those who are trying to create a paperless practice. Here you will be provided with advice on how to chose a clinical system how to manage the transition into a paperless office and offers an abundance of resource materials to help you through the process.' William Pascal Chief Technology Officer Canadian Medical Association

Hearing the Voices of Children provides a fresh perspective on social policy. At the heart of the book is the emergence of 'children's voices' and the implications of this for social policy. The authors argue that children's voices should be heard much more strongly in the process of policy formation at all levels. Although there is growing support for this idea, it is not without opposition, and the authors themselves make many critical points about the current attempts to put it into practice.

The book is divided into four main themes: hearing children's voices; discourses of childhood; children and services; and resources for children. Childhood experts from the UK, Scandinavia, Germany and Australia, examine how assumptions and models about childhood and discuss ways in which children's voices might become more influential in shaping policy. There are many obstacles to overcome, but the contributors to this volume show that children's participation is possible, and needed, if services are to be improved.

This book is essential reading for students and academics in the field of childhood studies, sociology, social policy and education. It will also be of interest to practitioners in the social, child and youth services.

Child Protection Systems is a comparative study of the social policies and professional practices that frame societal responses to the problems of child maltreatment in ten countries: USA, Canada, England, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway. Focusing on the developments in policy and practice since the mid-1990s, this volume provides a detailed, up-to-date analysis of the similarities and differences in how child protection systems operate and their outcomes. The findings highlight the changing criteria that define child maltreatment, trends in out-of-home placement, professional responses to allegations of maltreatment, and the level of state responsibility for child and family welfare, providing an in-depth understanding of the different ways modern welfare states assume the sensitive responsibility of balancing children's rights and parents' rights.
The changing character of child protection systems worldwide reflects dramatic and rapid organizational, policy, and legislative changes; the expansion of child welfare systems; the rise of formal procedures and evidence-based initiatives; the increased challenges posed by race and ethnicity; and the extent to which countries adopt either a child protection or a family service approach to child abuse. Each chapter analyzes these developments and the directions in which they are heading, such as movements toward privatization and devolution of child welfare service delivery. Against this backdrop, a third approach begins to emerge-a child-focused orientation-that aims to promote and improve children's development and well-being.
A vital book for understanding contemporary trends and policy issues in the design of child protection systems, this will be must reading for comparative scholars of child welfare, family policy, and the welfare state.

Contents:
Children of Neglect: An Overview of the Issues. What is Child Neglect? Definitional Issues. What Causes Child Neglect? Theoretical Issues. What Causes Child Neglect? An Analysis of Causal Models. What Impacts Children of Neglect? Public Policy. What Impacts Children of Neglect? Practice Strategies. What Impacts Children of Neglect? Practice Outcomes. Child Neglect and Culture. Child Neglect and Substance Abuse. Child Neglect an Poverty. The Children of Neglect: What do we Know? What do we Do?

Richard draws the reader into the counseling experience, demonstrating the application of the person-centred approach to counseling young people. Supervision sessions are included to highlight how a counselor uses supervision to ensure they maintain their personal and professional effectiveness.

In the first part of Counselling Young People, Jodie is brought to counseling by her mother who has found evidence that she is using cannabis. During the sessions issues addressed include drug use and the temptation to use heroin, relationships withparents, relationships with ‘best friends’, coming to terms with adolescent transition into adulthood.

First established at the end of the 19th century, the juvenile justice system has long been searching for an effective set of guiding principles. Over the last hundred years, through a series of piecemeal rulings, it has undergone an evolution from its original foundation on the rehabilitation model to the current "get-tough" system that increasingly treats juvenile offenders as adults. At present, there is no overarching theory or model of juvenile justice intervention in this nation or even in any given state. Juvenile justice policy is best characterized as a helter-skelter array, inconsistent across jurisdictions, with no overarching theoretical framework providing guidance. Indeed, the field is desperately in need of a coherent model to serve as a guide to policymaking.
In recent years, substantial gains have been made in the relevant knowledge on juveniles and offender treatment. We know more about the cognition and functioning of minors generally, and juvenile offenders specifically, as well as about how they respond to different types of interventions. Public attitudes have softened since the height of the "get-tough" era, and many policymakers are open to new ideas as they recognize that the current system just isn't effective. In this book, Slobogin and Fondacaro present their vision for a new juvenile justice system, founded on the evidence at hand and promoting the principles of rehabilitation and reintegration into society. The authors develop their juvenile justice policy proposals effectively by carefully addressing the problems with past policy approches and recent theoretical contributions, the science underlying the new perspective to be elucidated in the book and how that science informs the authors' perspectives. Most helpfully, they provide a detailed description of the proposed new model along with discussion of the procedural rules that should accompany its implementation, and articulation of the way in which the model would work in practice. For researchers and policymakers involved in juvenile justice, this book is a call to arms and a model for future developments.

Courts considering the future of maltreated children face complex and controversial questions, and the professional experts advising the courts must often address dilemmas which are key to the child's future but challenge the limits of current knowledge.

Studies in the Assessment of Parenting brings together acknowledged experts who consider difficult questions that can arise during family proceedings, and respond with practical approaches for dealing with these demanding and complex issues. A wide range of chapter topics place emphasis on considering the child's perspective whilst assessing parents who show a range of problems. Chapter topics are presented as challenging questions such as:
· What principles guide parenting assessments?
· Can parents with personality disorders adequately care for children?
· How does a judge weigh up a case?

Studies in the Assessment of Parenting offers a review of the latest literature but moreover a practical guide essential to those such as psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and paediatricians who give their expert opinions to courts in child care cases. In addition it will inform a range of professionals involved in day-to-day child protection work or whose role it is to enhance the safety and well-being of children within their families.

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Examine the pros and cons of nontraditional adoption! Welcome Home! An International and Nontraditional Adoption Reader is an essential guide to the process, pros, and cons of adopting children from outside the United States, with special needs, and/or from a different racial/cultural background. The book documents every aspect of the adoption procedurefrom working with facilitators, adoption agencies, and attorneys to mixed reactions over a child's possible loss of heritage as the result of a transracial or multicultural adoption. Parents and adoptees offer unique, firsthand perspectives on the cautions and benefits of nontraditional adoption. Americans adopted more than 20,000 children from other countries in 2001, a number that reflects humanitarian motives, the desire to adopt a child from a specific country, and/or frustration with the domestic adoption system. Including a foreword by United States Representative Ted Strickland, Welcome Home! is a practical resource for anyone thinking of establishing a family or adding to their own. The book provides insight into the adoption process, open adoption, biracial adoption, adopting a special needs child, cultural attitudes, and how to handle an adopted child's questions in later years. It also addresses specific adoption issues, including: how to verify an agency's credentials; how an agency negotiates with the birth mother; state and country laws and practices; tax benefits; and expenses, including legal and medical costs; and includes research findings on the Northeast-Northwest Collaborative Adoption Projects (N2CAP) Welcome Home! tells the stories of: Naomi and Fred, an intermarried couple (she's Jewish, he's not) who adopted a Greek baby in 1962 Tina and Lee, a lesbian couple, who adopted a baby from China Marianne, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Lund in Sweden, who adopted babies from Iran and Thailandseveral years after her divorce Pamela, a divorced mother of four biological children who has adopted babies from Viet Nam and China All of her biological children MildredPamela's mother and the children's grandmother Karen, adoptive mother and national chairperson for Families for Russian and Ukrainian adoption (FRUA) William, adoptive father of miracle sisters from Romania and many more! Welcome Home! is an invaluable source of unusual insight for psychologists, psychiatrists, marriage and family therapists, adoption agencies, counselors, social workers, attorneys, physicians, academics, and, of course, anyone considering adoption.

The turn of the 1990s saw a number of high profile public inquiries into the handling of child sexual abuse cases in Great Britain. Governing Child Sexual Abuse examines the implications of these inquiries on the regulation of relationships between families and the state. In so doing, Samantha Ashenden brings a number of contemporary debates in social and political theory to bear upon the governance of child sexual abuse. In particular, drawing on the work of Foucault and Habermas, she looks at:

*how to analyze the boundary between public and private spheres
*the legal and scientific determination of legitimate intervention
*the relationship between democracy and expertise in the governance of social life.

This book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of social and political theory, political sociology, the sociology of law, and social policy.

Contents:
1. Adoption in Context: Social Change and Openness 2. Openness in Adoption: Essential for Children's Wellbeing? 3. Policy, Law and Openness in Adoption 4. The Study: Issues, Methods and Sample Characteristics 5. Preparation and Planning for Direct Contact 6. Adoptive Parents: Perspectives on Adoption and Direct Contact 7. Birth Relatives and Direct Contact 8. Children's Thoughts and Feelings: Adoption and Post Adoption Contact 9. Views from the Triangle 10. Direct Post-Adoption Contact: Benefits, Risks and Uncertainties

Contents:
1. Adoption in Context: Social Change and Openness 2. Openness in Adoption: Essential for Children's Wellbeing? 3. Policy, Law and Openness in Adoption 4. The Study: Issues, Methods and Sample Characteristics 5. Preparation and Planning for Direct Contact 6. Adoptive Parents: Perspectives on Adoption and Direct Contact 7. Birth Relatives and Direct Contact 8. Children's Thoughts and Feelings: Adoption and Post Adoption Contact 9. Views from the Triangle 10. Direct Post-Adoption Contact: Benefits, Risks and Uncertainties