This book is the first in-depth exploration of grandparents' relationships with adult children and grandchildren in divorced families. It asks what part grandparents might play in public policy and whether measures should be taken to support their grandparenting role. Do they have a special place in family life that ought to be recognised in law?

Drawing on a large-scale 28-year survey, this report analyses entitlements to child-contingent taxes and benefits for thousands of households. It examines how support has varied across households and over time, separates the impact of policy from socio-economic changes and compares government support for children with estimates of the actual costs.

This groundbreaking book investigates and documents corporate influence on social policies at global/regional, national and local levels. It argues that we cannot understand the recent history and present direction of the welfare state unless we focus on the role that business has played in its development. 

Many health, education and social service initiatives aim to implement better multi-agency working between agencies and professionals. But what difference does this sort of change make to those on the receiving end? This book explores the impact of multi-agency working on disabled children and the families and professionals who support them.

Drawing on interviews with older people, local authority care managers and direct payments support service workers, this topical report looks at how older people use direct payments and how they make them work.

The turn to biographical methods in social science is invigorating the relationship between policy and practice. This book shows how biographical methods can improve theoretical understanding of professional practice, as well as enrich the development of professionals, and promote more meaningful practitioner - service user relationships.

Britain's New Labour government claims to support the cause of human rights. At the same time, it claims that we can have no rights without responsibility and that dependency on the state is irresponsible. The ethics of welfare offers a critique of this paradox and discusses the ethical conundrum it implies for the future of social welfare.

With moves towards greater integration of health and social care services, there is a need for improved understanding of the importance of a person-centred, holistic approach to these fields. This accessible text provides readers across the health and social care professions with a guide to understanding the value of this approach.

Using new EU-wide data, this report shows very different patterns of poverty across Europe, depending on the benchmark used. The findings have important implications for the spatial distribution of poverty within and between countries (including the UK) and for the development of anti-poverty policy across the EU.

This book considers how normative assumptions about the meanings, practices and relationships of care are embedded in our everyday lives. It explores ways in which these shape our sense of self and the nature of our relations. It also examines how social policy and welfare practices construct relations and give or deny them meaning and validity.

This book explores the choices that we make about our sexuality and their effect our personal lives. It analyses how social policy informs and responds to such choices through an examination of normative assumptions about sexuality and its role in forming, regulating and constituting welfare subjects, discourses, theories, provisions and practices.

This report explores risk assessment and risk management for people being discharged from psychiatric hospital. It breaks new ground by asking service users about their views and experiences. It also includes information about the harm that service users experienced and explores the perspectives of mental health workers, relatives and friends.