1. -Integrates policy and practice, using eight pragmatic perspectives -Covers a breadth of knowledge not available from any other single text -Outlines contemporary reform efforts and best practices -Discusses organizational and financing issues and their implications for direct practice -Includes specific engagement and interviewing skills and case studies -Summarizes section content at the end of each chapter -Lists "Suggested Learning Activities" at the end of each unit

2. An extensively revised version of the first edition, this text focuses on the practical foundational knowledge required to practice social work effectively in the complex and fast-changing world of services to children and their families. The core organizing framework consists of eight pragmatic perspectives: combating adultcentrism, family-centered practice, the strengths perspective, respect for diversity and difference, the least restrictive alternative, ecological perspective, organization and financing, and achieving outcomes. Unlike most texts that focus either on direct practice or on policy, Petr's revised volume integrates current policy-including recent reform efforts-with "best practices." The student thus gains a deep appreciation for how direct social work practice is linked to, and even guided by, contemporary policy initiatives and the values that underscore those initiatives. Two new chapters are devoted specifically to the fields of child welfare and children's mental health, providing an overview of the laws, policies, practices, and terminology pertaining to each setting. The next eight chapters focus on each pragmatic perspective and its relevance to child welfare and children's mental health. The in-depth case studies that comprise the concluding two chapters illustrate how typical client situations can be successfully addressed within the context of the pragmatic perspectives. Packed with case studies, specific practice instruction, chapter summaries, and suggested learning activities, this book prepares students and practitioners to think and act professionally in ways that are consistent with current laws, values, policies, and reform efforts in the field. An extensively revised version of the first edition, this text helps students practice effectively in the complex and fast-changing world of services to children and their families. Using eight pragmatic perspectives--combating adultcentrism, family-centered practice, the strengths perspective, respect for diversity and difference, least restrictive alternative, ecological perspective, organization and financing, and achieving outcomes--as the organizing framework, the student learns how to think and act professionally in ways that are consistent with current laws, values, policies and reform efforts in the field. Special attention is given to the settings of child welfare and children's mental health.

During the 50 years following Confederation in 1867, some 80,000 British children - many of them under the age of 10 - were shipped from Britain to Canada by Poor Law authorities and voluntary bodies. How did this come about? What were the motives and methods of the people involved in both countries? Why did it come to an end? What effects did it have on the children involved and what eventually became of them? These are the questions author Roy Parker explores in a meticulously researched work that brings together the economic, political, social, medical, legal, administrative, and religious aspects of the story in both Britain and Canada. He concludes with a moving review of evidence from more recent survivors of child migration, discussing the lifelong effects of their experiences with the help of modern psychological insights. His book, Uprooted, will capture and hold the interest of the academic, the practitioner, and the general reader, as well as the relatives and descendants -

Because of their previous damaging experiences, many children and young people enter the care system having already developed emotional problems or at a greater risk of developing them. However, in addition to this, research and experience consistently show that being in care is likely to aggravate or worsen developmental problems. Why does public care have these negative effects on children and what is needed to alleviate their problems?

This important book looks at how children in care can best be helped to attain desirable developmental outcomes. Owusu-Bempah introduces his notion of socio-genealogical connectedness to help explain why children in kinship care fare better than children in non-relative foster care. He argues, using recent empirical research as well as a wide range of literature from the adoption field and attachment theory, that knowledge about one s hereditary background is an essential factor in looked-after children s long-term adjustment to placement. As with all children, this knowledge forms the basis of their identity, self-worth, and general outlook.

An invaluable contribution to the area, this book offers promising routes to understanding better and working more effectively with virtually all families, irrespective of their cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. It will interest researchers and students of attachment theory, adoption and fostering, child development and children s mental health.

Since 1997, child welfare services have been faced with new demands to engage fathers or develop father-inclusive services. This book emerges from work by the author as a researcher and educator over many years on the issues posed by this agenda for child welfare practitioners in a variety of contexts. In locating fathers, fathering and fatherhood within a historical and social landscape, the book addresses issues seldom taken up in practice settings. It explores diversity and complexity in fathering in different disciplines such as psychoanalysis, sociology and psychology and analyses contemporary developments in social policies and welfare practices. The author employs a feminist perspective to highlight the opportunities and dangers in contemporary developments for those wishing to advance gender equity. A key strength of the book is its inter-disciplinary focus. It will be required reading for students, graduate and postgraduate, of social work, social policy, sociology and child and family studies. Academic researchers will also find the book invaluable because of its breadth of scholarship.

Many policy and practice initiatives that aim to prevent social exclusion focus on children and young people. This book seeks to consider new approaches to understanding the complexities of prevention, and how these new understandings can inform policy and practice. The authors use evidence from the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund to illustrate and explore the experiences of children and families who are most marginalised. They consider the historical context of approaches to child welfare, and present a new framework for understanding and developing preventative polices and practice within the context of social exclusion. Preventative initiatives such as the Children's Fund have supported large-scale complex evaluations that have generated rich and important data about strategies for addressing social exclusion and what they can achieve. The findings of this book have direct relevance for all those engaged in developing preventative policy and practice and will therefore be of interest to policy makers, practitioners and students of child welfare and social policy more broadly, in providing a timely discussion of key debates in designing, delivering and commissioning preventative services.

A landmark publication in the field, this state-of-the-art reference work, with contributions from leading thinkers across a range of disciplines, is an essential guide to the study of children and childhood, and sets out future research agendas for the subject.

The second edition of Children s Testimony is a fully up-to-date resource for practitioners and researchers working in forensic contexts and concerned with children's ability to provide reliable testimony about abuse. * Written for both practitioners and researchers working in forensic contexts, including investigative interviewers, police officers, lawyers, judges, expert witnesses, and social workers * Explores a range of issues involved with children's testimony and their ability to provide reliable testimony about experienced or witnessed events, including abuse * Avoids jargon and highly technical language * Includes a comprehensive range of contributions from an international group of practitioners and researchers to ensure topicality and relevance

The history of adoption from 1918-1945, detailing the rise of adoption, the growth of adoption societies and considering the increasing emphasis on secrecy in adoption. Analyses adoption law from legalization in 1926, to regulation and reform in the 1930s, with regulations finally being enforced in 1943 amid concern about casual wartime adoptions.

The past decade has seen a steady increase in the problem of unsupervised kids and its associated risks and dangers. The Second Edition of Latchkey Kids, offers a fresh outlook on this predicament and recommends future directions. Thoroughly updated with new research conducted between 1996-1997, the authors put the latchkey phenomenon in perspective and attempt to dispel common misconceptions. They detail a variety of alternative care programs that have been successfully implemented in many communities, including extended-day programs in public schools, neighborhood "block mothers," and after-school hotlines. Furthermore, they provide strategies for businesses, government, schools, and libraries that are indirectly faced with significant caregiving responsibilities. A new chapter focuses on high-risk children who experience self care, such as children with disabilities and children living in urban or impoverished neighborhoods. Additionally, the authors address the difficult issue of teenagers at home without supervision and the special problems that situation poses, including risk-taking with drugs, sex, and other dangerous behavior.

This helpful guide is written for professionals in the fields of counseling, education, family studies, social work, and criminology as well as concerned parents with latchkey kids.

Serious child protection failures haunt health and welfare agencies around the world.

This ground-breaking book provides evidence to link two issues of major concern to health and welfare professionals: the re-abuse of children and violence against child protection workers. Janet Stanley and Chris Goddard propose that by recognising the violence faced by protective workers, protection of children under the care of protective services will be increased. Furthermore, they argue that failures in child protection have been too often followed by failures in the child death inquiry systems.

Based on interviews with protective workers and rigorous examination of their case files, In the Firing Line draws links between the traumatised and isolated child protection worker and the traumatised and isolated re-abused child. Using the words of the workers themselves, the stresses of being "in the firing line" are vividly brought to life. Case studies highlight the full extent of violence in many children's lives. The book proposes that, in serious cases of abuse, new approaches and understandings are required if children are to be protected from repeated abuse, long-term psychological injury and perhaps death.

In the Firing Line is essential reading for all professionals, policy makers, students and educators in child care and protection. It is also important for those who work with clients/customers who have the potential to be violent and for those who are responsible for the supervision and management of staff who work with potentially violent clients.

The welfare of children with mentally ill parents: Learning from inter-country comparisons looks at different approaches to supporting families in ten European countries and one state in Australia. These families have complex needs, and a wide range of agencies in mental health and social services may be involved. This can lead to problems of liaison and co-operation between different agencies and different disciplines.

A vivid picture of service provisions and the way in which legislation can operate in different countries emerges in the book. Professionals identified common problems and effective responses which were used to build a European model of good practice. This takes into account the nature of the difficulties facing families and the strengths and weaknesses of different national systems. The model is used a basis for analysing the particular problems of the English system and the authors suggest ways forward.

This important volume is essential reading for practitioners, managers, academics and students in the fields of social work, mental health and social policy. It is also a key source of reference for policy makers in mental health and social welfare, and for mental health and child welfare pressure groups.

Child protection is one of the most high profile and challenging areas of social work, as well as one where children's lives and family life are seen to be at stake. Vital as child protection work is, this book argues that there is a pressing need for change in the understanding and consequent organization of child protection in many English speaking countries.

The authors present compelling evidence from around the globe demonstrating that systems across the Western world are failing children, families and social workers. They then set out a radical plan for reform:

• Providing an overview of contemporary child protection policies and practices across the English speaking world
• Presenting a clear and innovative theoretical framework for understanding the problems in the child protection system
• Developing an alternative, ethical framework which locates child protection in the broader context of effective and comprehensive support for children, young people and families at the neighbourhood and community levels

Grounded in the recent and contemporary literature, research and scholarly inquiry, this book capitalises on the experiences and voices of children, young people, families and workers who are the most significant stakeholders in child protection. It will be an essential read for those who work, research, teach or study in the area.

The process of interviewing a child can be a daunting experience for both the child and the interviewer. Interviewing Children offers practical advice for understanding the linguistic abilities of children and for applying that knowledge effectively to the evidentiary interview. Drawing on real transcript data and data from language games with presumed non-abused children, the authors examine each stage of the phased interview as outlined, in the Memorandum of Good Practice. Incorporating case studies, checklists, and self-assessment sheets, Interviewing Children provides step-by-step guidelines for

• establishing an effective interview setting
• building rapport with the child
• overcoming the difficulties that can arise when eliciting free narrative accounts
• understanding which question types to use and which to avoid
• identifying and using age-appropriate language
• interviewing disabled children and those who are bilingual or use a minority language

The results of this report from a major international research project, funded by UNICEF, on child rights and child poverty in the developing world are shocking. They show that over one billion children - more than half the children in developing countries - suffer from severe deprivation of basic human need and over a third (674 million) suffer from absolute poverty. The study's findings indicate that considerably more emphasis needs to be placed on improving basic infrastructure and social services for families with children, particularly with regards to shelter, sanitation and safe drinking water in rural areas. Anti-poverty strategies need to respond to local conditions, as blanket solutions to eradicating child poverty will be unsuccessful. (REPORT)

Featuring helpful checklists, models of good practice, templates and photocopiable resources that can be used in development work, this highly practical book will be an invaluable resource for anyone involved with implementing Every Child Matters in extended schools and children's centres.

As well as setting out roles and expectations, this unique book clearly and thoroughly explains how to:

• implement and meet the five ECM outcomes for well-being
• provide extended services and wraparound care
• work in partnership with agencies and private, voluntary and community sector providers
• quality-assure and evaluate the impact of provision and care
• self-review, monitor and evaluate the ECM outcomes in line with national standards and OFSTED.

From leaders and managers, to front-line staff and volunteers, everyone will find this step-by-step handbook packed with useful advice and suggestions for further reading, websites and resources.

"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.

Children, Child Abuse and Child Protection is the second book written by the Violence Against Children Study Group, a multidisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners from a range of professional settings concerned with child protection. This book follows on from the highly successful Taking Child Abuse Seriously, published in 1990. This new volume gives an overview of the complex and uncertain political, moral and social context within which practitioners and managers attempt to work with children, families and others. The authors suggest factors that should be taken into consideration when refining policy and practice. The book reviews the development of improved policy and practices in child protection, placing children at the centre of policy, practice and discourse. The chapters explore the margins of the child protection system, and in particular how child protection interconnects or overlaps with other systems, such as health, police and education. This accessible text:

• provides a unique focus on the margins of the child protection system
• engages in current debates in social theory and social research
• makes suggestions for policy and practice

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.

How can we end the inter-generational cycle of poverty and dysfunction in the US's urban ghettos? This ground-breaking and controversial book is the first to provide a child-centered perspective on the subject by combining a wealth of social science information with sophisticated normative analysis to support novel reforms-to child protection law and practice, family law, and zoning- that would quickly end that cycle. The rub is that the reforms needed would entail further suffering and loss of liberty for adults in these communities, and liberal advocacy organizations and academics are so adult-centered in their sympathies and thinking that they reflexively oppose any such measures. Liberals have instead promoted one ineffectual parent-focused program after another, in an ideologically-driven quest for the magic pill that can save both adults and children in these communities at the same time. This `insider critique' of liberal child welfare policy reveals a dilemma that liberals have yet to face squarely: there is an ineradicable conflict of interests between many young children and their parents, especially in areas of concentrated poverty, and one must choose sides. It is a must read for legal academics, political scientists, urban policy experts, as well as professionals working in social work, law, education, urban planning, legislative offices, and administrative agencies.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Drawing on comparative research from five countries, What Works in Improving Gender Equality provides an accessible analysis of what gender equality means and how we can achieve it by adapting best practices in care policies from other countries. Realistic policy solutions are reached by examining the contexts in which childcare and longterm care policies are developed, and what difficulties might need to be overcome in applying the lessons from different international models.

An accessible resource to help those in organisational settings ensure that they have taken all possible steps to safeguard the children and young people they are responsible for. * Draws on up to date research with people who have committed sexual offences against children in organisational settings, and new developments in interviewing approaches * Details recent cases to illustrate points about institutional failures in protecting children * Highlights the fact that those who sexually offend against children are a diverse and heterogeneous population, and the approaches taken to protect children must address the range of possible risks * Makes a firm commitment to the importance of multi-agency and inter-disciplinary collaboration and is relevant in both community and residential settings * Offers clear and practical messages and measures for organisations to act on

Joining New Families is based on a research study which followed 61 children who were placed, between 5 and 9 years old, with adoptive or permanent foster families. Most of the children had previously been maltreated. The study focused on the problems and strengths that these children brought to their new families; how the new families coped; and the factors associated with the placements becoming stable and secure. The authors provide a detailed presentation of the findings from this unique study and highlight the implications for policy and practice. Key factors examined include

• the children’s pre-placement experiences
• the quality of preparatory work with the children and families
• the characteristics of the new parents and their parenting style
• the children’s emotional and behavioural difficulties
• the development of relationships within the new family
• the type and quality of post-placement support

Going Missing presents important findings from the first major study of young people who go missing from residential and foster homes. By exploring the diverse reasons why young people go missing and what happens when they do, the authors highlight the impact both of individual motivations and of residential and foster care contexts on the patterns associated with going missing. The authors address the serious risks that young people may encounter while missing, including the dangers associated with sleeping rough, offending, sexual exploitation, and substance misuse. The longer term implications of repeatedly going missing for the structure of young peoples lives are also explored. In outlining the strengths and limits of the different professional responses to young people who go missing, the authors present an analysis of the difficult professional task of managing risk for different groups of people. Conclusions drawn from this unique study are considered in terms of their wider implications for

• developing preventive services for teenagers
• the nature of residential and foster care provision
• inter-agency approaches to supporting young people

"Making Research Work" demonstrates how research can be fostered and applied more effectively to child care policy and practice. Drawing on a wealth of experience, current literature and government documents, the contributors present a comprehensive discussion of key contemporary issues relating to child care research. Recommendations are given for recognising and responding to both the fundamental and the specialist issues that challenge the various stages of the research process. Practical guidelines are given for

• undertaking single-case design research
• appraising current child care literature and official statistics
• accessing hidden or hard-to-reach populations
• dissemination
• establishing a research centre
• preparing a research proposal to submit to a funding body
• commissioning and funding research

For preschool children with emotional difficulties arising from difficulties in attachment, standard observations used in early years settings are not always helpful in identifying their problems and providing guidance on how they can be helped. Combining an accessible introduction to attachment and child development with a child observation tool for identifying behaviour, and the emotional needs underlying this behaviour, this book enables early years professionals to identify problems and provide appropriate support. 'Case study' boxes help to illustrate typical patterns of attachment, and all aspects of behaviour are covered including play, interaction with peers, neediness and aggression. Written in clear, concise language, Observing Children with Attachment Difficulties in Preschool Settings aims to equip the reader with the knowledge and skills needed to identify and support children's emotional and social difficulties. Suitable for use with children aged 2-5, this will be an invaluable resource for early years professionals, as well as clinicians, teachers and learning support staff.