Social work practice with children, young people and families is complex, highly skilled - and fascinating. Writing about social work increasingly acknowledges the complexities and uncertainties of practice but rarely features the voice of the social worker themselves. This book takes a different approach, that of Critical Best Practice: a constructive, realistic and strengths-based approach that takes as its starting point the telling and analysing of in depth stories about 'live' practice. The reader is encouraged to join the social work practitioner or manager as they engage with the everyday dilemmas and uncertainties of 21st century practice. Ten narratives, based round the themes of relationships, risk, and negotiation & problem solving provide varied opportunities for critical reflection and learning about social work in different contexts. Insights are offered into social work with children, from young babies to adolescents, and families with differing needs in different parts of the UK: England, Scotland and Wales.

As the occupational therapy profession concerns itself with how people occupy their time during daily life, it is critical for occupational therapists who serve children to understand how to apply their knowledge and skills within the complex and varied environments of the community. A core text for over 10 years, Best Practice Occupational Therapy for Children and Families in Community Settings, Second Edition by Dr. Winnie Dunn provides a clear insight into how to conceive, design, implement, and evaluate services that reflect core principles. Best Practice Occupational Therapy for Children and Families in Community Settings, Second Edition provides the most current information about providing services within community settings, with material addressing early intervention, early childhood, school-age services, and transitions. The context of this text is rooted in best practice principles from interdisciplinary literature and illustrates how occupational therapy professionals implement those principles in their everyday practices. New Features of the Second Edition: Updated assessments, evidence, and appendices Case studies that illustrate the implementation of ideas in a practice situation Worksheets that outline each step in the occupational therapy process from what to include to how to provide rationale for team members, families, and consumers Tables and inserts that summarize key points Information regarding state and federal legislation to guide the occupational therapists in how to negotiate for best practice services within parameters of regulations Integrated throughout the text is the American Occupational Therapy Association’s Occupational Therapy Practice Framework Additional on-line resources that are available with new book purchases Included with the text are online supplemental materials for faculty use in the classroom. Best Practice Occupational Therapy for Children and Families in Community Settings, Second Edition contains many suggestions about how to practice the skills needed for evidence-based practice, making this the perfect resource for occupational therapy students, faculty, and practitioners who serve children and families.

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.

Improving the well-being of children is more effective when social care professionals work with the children's parents, families and communities. This collection brings together innovative interventions designed to nurture children's health and welfare, and analyses which types of programmes are most effective and why. The contributors explore the impact of poverty on children's development and assess national initiatives set up to assess and reduce need. They present examples from the UK, US, Canada and Australia of specific interventions to counter or prevent difficulties in the domains of child development, parenting capacity and wider environmental factors. Many contributions demonstrate the importance of engaging with service users and helping communities to shape and direct their own programmes for change. The final section of the book presents useful approaches to assessing and evaluating services. Demonstrating the need for close inter-agency collaboration and `joined up' services, this book is essential reading for policy makers, managers and practitioners in child welfare agencies, and social work academics and students.

Designated a Doody's Core Title! Winner of an AJN Book of the Year Award! Written by nationally recognized experts, this book provides the reader with the gold standard of nursing care for infants, children, youth, and families. Through systematic consensus building led by the American Academy of Nursing's Child-Family Expert Panel over a 4-year period, leaders of 12 nursing organizations have used their own organizational standards to identify the core elements of nursing excellence, which include: Access to Health Care Culturally Responsive Care Genetic Assessment and Counseling Supporting Emotional Health Physical Safety Provisions for Care Palliative Care for Children and Families Care for Children and Youth With Disabilities Each chapter begins with an introduction to a core element, and includes a discussion of nursing care for each element, along with comments on multidisciplinary collaboration.

People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia traces the evolution of policies and programs intended to protect children in BC from neglect and abuse. Analyzing this evolution reveals that child protection policy and practice has reflected the priorities of politicians and public servants in power. With few exceptions, efforts to establish effective programs have focused on structural arrangements, staffing responsibilities, and rules to regulate the practice of child welfare workers. Contributors to this book conclude that these attempts have been unsuccessful thus far because they have failed to address the impact of poverty on clients. The need to respect the cultural traditions and values of First Nations clients has also been ignored. Effective services require recognizing and remedying poverty's impact, establishing community control over services, and developing a radically different approach to the day-to-day practice of child welfare workers. People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia provides a crucial assessment of the state of child welfare in the province. Practitioners, scholars, and students in social work, child and youth care, education, and other human-service professions will find this book particularly important.

Now in a fully revised and updated second edition, this text and professional resource provides a practical guide to family-based therapy for childhood emotional and behavioral problems. Presented are innovative assessment and treatment strategies that take into account children's developmental needs, different family forms, health and environmental challenges, and relationships with larger systems. Reflecting 15 years of clinical advances and the changing contexts of family life, the second edition features many new chapters and new authors. New topics include gene-environment interactions, integrating family therapy with child pharmacotherapy, working with foster families, and treating disrupted attachments.

Now more than ever there is a need to ensure that best practices are being used in residential programs. As the focus on costs and outcomes increase, residential programs must clearly demonstrate that the interventions provided are efficient and effective. Readers will learn how to: Create strength-based, empowering and healing environments; Better engage and partner with children, adolescents and families, in meaningful ways; Support those who have experienced trauma and loss, and to prevent and eliminate the use of restraint and seclusion; Respect and include cultural indices in practices; Train, mentor, supervise, support and empower staff about how to deliver promising and best practices, and evidence-informed and evidence-based interventions; and Track long-term outcomes, and create funding strategies to better support sustained positive outcomes. This book encourages readers to think strategically about how agencies, communities and systems can identify and implement actions that lead to positive change and how to work more collaboratively to improve the lives of children and adolescents who have experienced emotional and behavioral life challenges and their families.

This edited collection offers an international perspective on the challenges of designing and undertaking outcome-based evaluation of child and family services. It introduces the key ideas and issues currently being debated in the evaluation of these services and provides examples of evaluation from policy and practice.

Focusing on children who are subject to welfare intervention, Protecting Children addresses the challenges and issues of the child welfare system and provides foundational knowledge on the theoretical and practical aspects of the field. This edited collection begins with a review of key concepts, including child development, attachment, and resilience theories; social policies; family law; and ethics. Highlighting the translation of theory into practice, the contributors discuss current services and the search for best practice internationally, as well as explore Indigenous child welfare and offer conclusions and recommendations to promote positive outcomes for children and families involved in the system. Scholars, researchers, and practitioners from across the globe provide insight on a wide range of timely issues, such as the risk of reductionism, limits to predictability, pragmatic issues, as well as the disproportional presence in the care system of minority groups, including Indigenous children, children of new immigrants and refugees, children in LGBTQ communities, and children of the poor. This foundational volume is an important resource for courses in social work and child welfare. FEATURES - includes contributions from researchers, practitioners, and scholars from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States - highlights Indigenous authors and personal stories of service users, and includes figures and tables throughout the text, as well as section introductions and conclusions to situate main theories and concepts for students