The Integrated Children's System (ICS) is part of the British government's long term program to improve outcomes and life chances for children. The ICS is an inter-agency framework designed to hold information about children and enable easy reference, communication and shared access between different elements of children's services. The ICS was developed to support effective practice with children and families and improve decision making and planning for children in need. The system provides a more structured and systematic approach by integrating the processes of working with children in need from the point of first contact through to the final review. This book outlines what the ICS is, how it works and how to ensure that it is implemented effectively. Drawing on the findings of several pilot projects, this book will be a valuable source of guidance for those using and implementing the database, policymakers and social care managers.

Bonnie & Clyde's First Christmas is about my two dogs, Bonnie and Clyde, who love to make new friends with all different kinds of animals in the neighborhood. One day, on a warm and sunny morning, I watched Bonnie and Clyde looking at all the different colorful birds and butterflies gliding peacefully in the blue sky above me. On another day I observed a beautiful blue and white butterfly landing gracefully on Bonnie's nose. I smiled and laughed to myself, because it was such a funny moment. Bonnie did not seem to mind having a new friend on her button nose. I began to wonder, "Can two dogs, a rabbit, and a butterfly become friends with the help of the Christmas Spirit?" You will love this sweet story and fall in love with Trudy Ann, the caterpillar that turns into a beautiful butterfly.

"I have often been identified as a 'protest poet, '" writes Wendy Rose, "and although something in me frowns a little at being so neatly categorized, that is largely the truth." A prolific voice in Native American writing for more than twenty years, Rose has been widely anthologized and is the author of eight volumes of poetry. Bone Dance is a major anthology of her work, comprising selections from her previous collections along with new poems. The 56 selections move from observation of the earth to a searc for one's place and identity on it. They convey a sense of travel and inquiry, whether based on actual journeys on intellectual search. Through them we sense the dynamic tension experienced by Native peoples when they struggle to retain their traditional ways. In an introduction written for this anthology, Rose comments on the place each past collection had in her development as a poet. "Around the age of eighteen, " she reflects, "I thought that I had to be strong so that the fragile, old knowledge would be protected. At forty-five, I see things a little differently. It is the old way that is strong. The people like me are the ones who have always been in danger. I learned that my true job is simply to be who I am and keep listening."

Written as part of a training pack for practitioners working in child care and child protection, and bringing together leading figures from a range of disciplines, this important text shows how the latest child development theories can be applied to professionals' working practice. Considering theories of development throughout the lifespan from the early years through to adolescence, and transitions to adulthood, this resource is essential reading for a range of professionals including social workers, teachers, and health and mental health professionals. The authors build up an integrated picture of the developing world of the child, looking at genetic and biological influences alongside individual psychological, interpersonal, familial, educational and wider community domains. The final part of the book looks specifically at issues for practice, including chapters on communicating with children exercising professional judgment, and planning, interventions and outcomes in child care.

Services for families and children are rightfully the focus of intense scrutiny and debate, and there is a clear need to establish a knowledge of which services work well. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of research evidence from the UK and USA on the effectiveness of selected child welfare interventions. It addresses the challenges of measuring effectiveness in child welfare and explains the policy context for child welfare service delivery. Leading international contributors summarize the evidence of effectiveness in each core area, and consider the impact on children's development, parenting capacity and the wider community. Critically, the book also draws out the implications of the evidence for policy, practice and service delivery as well as for future research. This book is essential reading for policy makers, practitioners and commissioners of services in child welfare as well as students and researchers.

This book deals with the daily life of a hidden group. Revealing the untold stories of a pioneer generation of young Chinese Americans, this book places the children and families of early Chinatown in the middle of efforts to combat American policies of exclusion and segregation. Wendy Jorae challenges long-held notions of early Chinatown as a bachelor community by showing that families - and particularly children - played important roles in its daily life. She explores the wide-ranging images of Chinatown's youth created by competing interests with their own agendas - from anti-immigrant depictions of Chinese children as filthy and culturally inferior to exotic and Orientalized images that catered to the tourist's ideal of Chinatown. All of these representations, Jorae notes, tended to further isolate Chinatown at a time when American-born Chinese children were attempting to define themselves as Chinese American. Facing barriers of immigration exclusion, cultural dislocation, child labor, segregated schooling, crime, and violence, Chinese American children attempted to build a world for themselves on the margins of two cultures. Their story is part of the larger American story of the struggle to overcome racism and realize the ideal of equality.

Examining the assessment of need in children's services this book addresses the full spectrum of practice, policy and research developments in the field. The contributors include leading academics, policy makers and senior practitioners who generate a broad-based holistic approach to the assessment of children in need. They show how needs assessment in children's services can be used to tackle problems such as low achievement, mental ill-health and social exclusion at both individual and strategic levels. Approaches to the Assessment of Need in Children's Services will enable service managers and practitioners to respond effectively to the increasing pressure to monitor outcomes and effectiveness in child care work, and to improve and coordinate children's welfare service provision at individual and community levels and provides an indispensable overview and analysis for anyone working or studying in child welfare and social care.