Policy Press

Change and Continuity in Children's Services

By Roy Parker

Published

Apr 29, 2015

Page count

224 pages

ISBN

978-1447322221

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jun 1, 2016

Page count

224 pages

ISBN

978-1447334422

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jun 1, 2016

Page count

224 pages

ISBN

978-1447334439

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press
Change and Continuity in Children's Services

This collection of 12 new and revised essays on child care and children’s services, written by leading child welfare historian Roy Parker, draws on his lifetime of research in this area.

By exploring various topics these essays explain significant political, economic, legal and ideological aspects of this history from the mid-1850s. This unique and lasting review of child care services allows readers to understand how the services for some of society’s most vulnerable children have become what they are, how well they have met and now meet the needs of those children.

The collection provides a high-quality, historical reference resource that will inform and capture the interest of social work and social policy students as well as social and legal historians, political scientists and those involved in administration and government, struggling with the issues of the day.

Roy Parker (d. 2017) was professor emeritus of social policy at the University of Bristol. Formerly he taught at the LSE. Before his academic career he worked as a child care officer and in residential care.

Introduction: Patterns of change and continuity;

Residential child care: an historical perspective;

From boarding-out to foster care;

The evolution of landmark legislation;

Getting started with the Children Act 1948: what do we learn?;

Child care in the melting pot in the 1980s;

Trends, transitions and tensions: children’s services since the 1980s;

Reflections on the assessment of outcomes in child care;

The role and function of inquiries;

Evidence, values, judgement and engagement;

Emerging issues: looking ahead.