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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What can we learn from inquiries into cases of fatal child abuse? Beyond Blame offers a new way of looking at such cases and show that it is possible to draw important lessons from them. The authors, all three experienced in child protection work, summarise thirty-five major inquiries since 1973, setting them in their social context and discussing the implications both for practical work in the field and for future inquiries.
They stress the need for those who work day to day in child protection to develop and apply a more sophisticated level of analysis to assessment and intervention. They identify common themes within abusing families, in the relationships between members of the professional networks, and in the interactions between the families and the professionals.

Related link: Free Email Alerting

What can we learn from inquiries into cases of fatal child abuse? Beyond Blame offers a new way of looking at such cases and shows that it is possible to draw important lessons from them. The authors, all three experienced in child protection work, summarise thirty-five major inquiries since 1973, setting them in their social context and discussing the implications both for practical work in the field and for future inquiries. They stress the need for those who work day to day in child protection to develop and apply a more sophisticated level of analysis to assessment and intervention. They identify common themes within abusing families, in the relationships between members of the professional networks, and in the interactions between the families and the professionals.

"Family Matters" focuses on research and clinical experiences which bridge the traditional gap between child and adult mental health. Rather then considering child and adult problems separately, the authors address the often complex interactions between the two, covering such topics as:
* The implications of childhood trauma in later life
* The impact of parental mental health problems on children
* How interaction within a family can affect the mental health of all individuals within the family
The authors review existing research and cover their own recent studies and practical experience, and put forward new theoretical models to underpin their recommendations for changes in practice, such as liason initiatives between child and adult services and specialised services to treat adolescents, parenting breakdown and perinatal psychiatric illness.
The findings and recommendations in "Family Matters" have important implications for the organsiation and funding of mental health and related services, and staff training, and should be read by all those in professions concerned with child and adult mental health, including psychiatrists, family therapists, psychotherapists, nurses, health visitors and social workers, and health service managers.

A follow-up to Beyond Blame: Child Abuse Tragedies Revisited (1993), which analyzed the cases at the centre of 35 public inquiries into fatal child abuse. In this text, the authors use the same process of case analysis and apply it to a more representative sample of cases. They describe the theoretical basis and method of the study and its findings, and go on to discuss its practical implications and their opinions about the case review process itself. Finally, the authors discuss whether child abuse fatalities can be predicted or prevented.

These are the sorts of questions that face mental health practitioners who are increasingly involved in complex child care cases which come before the courts. They have been given little guidance to date on how these assessments should be made, especially where a decision has to be taken as to whether a child has experienced `significant harm.' In this much needed book senior clinicians consider the principles and practice of parenting assessments and how they guide courts' decisions about children's welfare. They describe a number of frameworks for assessment and discuss the factors which help predict the risk of future maltreatment or the likelihood of successful rehabilitation. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the need to integrate the assessments of all relevant professionals in order to serve the best interests of the child, while also addressing the parents' potential to improve their caretaking skills. Offering guidance in areas of crucial significance for child, family and professional alike Assessment of Parenting will be widely welcomed.