This book builds upon and advances the comparative analysis of child protection systems that was conducted in the mid-1990s. Since the mid-1990s, however, much has changed in the realm of child welfare and how states define and deal with their responsibilities for children at risk. This book sets out to identify and analyse these changes and their implications, with a particular focus on assessing the extent to which the child protection and family service orientations continue to provide a helpful framework for understanding and comparing systems in different countries.

This book draws on a wide range of evidence to explore the facts about the relationship between substance misuse and domestic violence and their effect on children, and examines the response of children's services when there are concerns about the safety and welfare of children. It reveals the vulnerability of these children and the extent to which domestic violence, parental alcohol or parental drug misuse impact on children's health and development, affect the adults' capacity to undertake key parenting tasks, and influence the response of wider family and the community. It includes parents' own voices and allows them to explain what help they feel would best support families in similar situations. The authors explore the extent to which current local authority plans, procedures, joint protocols and training support information sharing and collaborative working. Emphasising the importance of an holistic inter-agency approach to assessment, planning and service provision, the authors draw from the findings implications for policy and practice in both children and adult services. This book is essential reading for all professionals working to promote the welfare and wellbeing of children and those working with vulnerable adults, many of whom are parents.

"The timing of the publication with the revised Working Together guidelines could not be more advantageous. This book is a unique and important contribution to child care literature. No agency should be without." - Child Abuse Review Professionals concerned with the protection of children face many challenges. This work demands knowledge from several disciplines, a wide variety of skills, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The editors, Howard Dubowitz, a pediatrician, and Diane DePanfilis, a social worker, together with over 70 experts in this field offer what is known about how best to work with maltreated children and their families, in a very practical, concise, and user-friendly way. Structured to follow the life of a case from the time a report of child maltreatment is made through the various pathways in the child protection system, this edited volume synthesizes the best practice principles for responding to reports of child abuse and neglect; engaging children and other family members in intervention; developing cross-cultural practice competencies; assessing risk, evaluating safety, and conducting family assessments; defining outcomes and planning intervention; evaluating risk reduction; and making permanency decisions; and discusses the unique legal, medical, ethical, and other practice issues that work in the child protection field involves. Professionals facing tough dilemmas in practice should find valuable guidance in these pages.

First published in 1999, The Management of Child Protection Services is not about child abuse but about child protection. It is about the arrangements that professionals from different disciplines make to ensure they operate together effectively to protect the most vulnerable children in society. The book examines five different contexts of child protection: historical, cross-cultural, structural, managerial and professional and consideration of the operation of Area Child Protection Committees. In exploring these contexts, the book seeks to address such questions as: ‘how can universal standards be applied to protect vulnerable children whilst avoiding ethnocentrism?’ and ‘from where are derived, historically, and cross-culturally, the models of child protection adopted in the UK today?’ It also seeks to identify the different professional contexts, roles and contributions of agencies involved in child protection, with a view to promoting interdisciplinary understanding. These questions and understandings are necessary if changes currently being contemplated are to enhance the effectiveness of child protection.

Child Protection and Child Welfare draws on the knowledge of child protection experts and social care professionals to provide an authoritative international overview of child protection strategy and policy. Devoting particular attention to the role played by culture in determining child welfare issues and child protection responses, this book illustrates the impact of both long-term influences, such as the legacy of the caste system in India, and more recent global events, such as the development of international trade in Ghana and shrinking budgets in Italy on national approaches to supporting families and children. The international perspective aims to enhance our understanding of the range of possible approaches, encouraging researchers, policymakers and practitioners to think critically about current models, and providing insights for developing practice. This important book will be essential reading for social workers, policy makers, child protection service workers, commissioners and managers across child and family welfare services, as well as researchers and academics in the field.

All public sector workers in contact with children and families, both in health care and allied services, need access to clearly written information about what to do if they are concerned about the safety and welfare of a child. Ensuring the safety of children who are at risk of harm is not an easy undertaking. It is sometimes difficult to assess the significance of information about a child, to gauge its seriousness or decide what to do next. This handbook will help health service workers negotiate the complexities of child protection practice, with the aim of preventing abuse and neglect and protecting children from further harm once it has occurred. The text explains how the child protection process works. It covers all the key areas of child protection practice, including: risk assessment physical, sexual and emotional abuse neglect the child protection conference key changes in the legal framework and their application in practice. Clarifying a complex area of work, The Child in Mind provides sound advice aimed at improving individual practice. It is unique in that although it is directed to all health care workers, it can be used as part of in-service training, as a handy reference for students and indeed by anyone who works with children.

Lessons from child protection errors and mistakes in 11 countries in Europe and North America are drawn together in a stimulating study from leading researchers in the field. By comparing and contrasting impacts, responses and responsibilities, it deepens understanding of how child protection systems fail and points to ideas for risk reduction.