Some children seem to present parents, teachers, social workers and courts with such serious or disparate problems that holding them in secure accommodation is apparently the only way to control them. How this comes about, and by what criteria social workers and courts help them make these difficult decisions, are the subjects of this intriguing and innovative book. In "Secure Accommodation in Child Care", Harris and Timms use a major empirical study of children in secure accommodation as a basis for an analysis of relations between the state, the family and the "difficult" child. By synthesizing literary and social science theories, they examine court procedures and the experiences of social workers and the children themselves to explain how professionals and children make sense of their respective worlds, and how that "sense" is translated into personal or professional action. The functions of secure accommodation, although legally ascribed, are fundamentally ambigous; to "lock-up" children by means of an authorized strategy which embraces both the "sick" and the "wicked" suggests the existence of a less than obvious relation between meeting "needs", and furthering "interests".

First published in 1982, this dictionary offers a practical aid to students of social work and of social policy in their conversation about social welfare. It explains the meaning or range of meanings of common terms and explains their applications in welfare, legislation, policy and use by welfare practitioners. It helpfully cross-references terms with similar or related terms that might be considered alongside. In addition, most entries are concluded by references which introduce the reader to a more extended treatment of the term or an elaboration of its application in the language of social welfare. Although first published in 1989, this book will be a valuable resource for students of social work, social policy and social welfare.