SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Work

This ground-breaking book explores the relationship between the media, child abuse and shifting adult–child power relations which, in Western countries, has spawned an ever-expanding range of laws, policies and procedures introduced to address the ‘explosion’ of interest in the issue of child abuse.

From scarcer resources to greater stresses, this book charts how policies and cuts have compromised workers’ ability to undertake their professional roles. Combining research and practice experience, it assesses the extent of de-professionalisation in recent years, and how workers have responded.

The first book to bring together both advocates and critics of the personalisation agenda in English social care services to debate key issues.

Presenting new research, this book provides refreshing guidance on how social workers can ensure that children and parents participate more effectively in decision making processes when childcare social workers are involved and improve outcomes for all.

This book contains everything there is to know about the purpose and history of personal health budgets, the evidence for their effectiveness and the challenges they pose to traditional healthcare systems.

Launching the dementia debate into new and exciting territory, this book applies a human rights lens to interrogate the lived experience and policy response to dementia.

Drawing on experiences from nine UK cities, Developing people - Regenerating place analyses the views of a range of practitioners on how to achieve more effective joint working across area regeneration and social inclusion initiatives.

This book is an invaluable resource, employing a 'bottom-up' approach to learning. It presents vivid examples of social work practice with children and families and real life illustrations of the challenges facing practitioners. With analysis of each section, it provides essential guidance for students and sets standards for training and practice.

The principle of service user involvement in decisions that affect them directly is now generally supported, but many voluntary organisations remain under scrutiny because of slow implementation. This report explores the processes of change in eleven voluntary organisations to draw out lessons relevant to the wider sector.

A first of its kind, this book explores child protection systems in non-Western, low- and middle-income countries, offering a descriptive, yet analytical, account of the development and current stage of practice in twelve different countries.

From a campaigning concept in the 1970s, direct payments - the substitution of cash for services - have become a key part of UK government social care provision. This book charts the change, critically evaluating progress, take-up, inclusion and access to direct payments by different user groups.