| Gerrilyn Smith
How much more effective would we be in working against child sexual abuse if every adult had the knowledge currently available only to professionals? This unique, unparalleled and groundbreaking book gives adults the vital information and skills needed to protect children in their day-to-day lives.
| Joan Hunt, Suzette Waterhouse Eleanor Lutman
This study provides invaluable information on the benefits and challenges of kinship care and what is to be done to enable it to be used effectively. The study tracked 113 children in England, removed from their parents’ care because of child protection concerns and placed with kin through the courts. The placements were then assessed in terms of: whether they lasted as long as necessary and provided good quality and safe care; the quality of the relationship between the child and carer; and how well the child was functioning.
| Multiple
This special issue of the journal is guest edited by Sonia Jackson, editor of Nobody Ever Told Us School Mattered(BAAF, 2001) and a leading researcher and writer in the field. It focuses on the education of looked-after children and how and where they are supported or – more often – failed by “the system”. It features articles from England, Scotland and Australia. Themes include: the role of social pedagogy in foster care; education and self-reliance among care leavers; the work of Our Place, a special centre promoting the educational achievement of looked after and adopted children; and the views of adoptive parents.
| Julia Wise
Published as part of the Our Story series, Flying Solo tells Julia Wise’s story of adopting on her own. In this personal story, Julia offers a realistic look at the joys and pitfalls of being a single adoptive parent and the impact of her decision on herself, her family and close friends.
| Karen Carr
Published as part of the Our Story series, this is the true story of an adoption and an adoption breakdown, bravely told by the adoptive mother. From the final court hearing, when Lucy returned to local authority care, Karen Carr looks back over the four years that Lucy was with them and, without apportioning blame, describes what went wrong and why.
| Hedi Argent
The Ten Top Tips series considers some of the fundamental themes in child care practice in concise, practical guides ideal for busy practitioners. This handy, practical guide explores the fundamentals in child placement with an emphasis on evidence from practice and experience. It provides clear and concise accounts of what works and what does not, and includes the views of children and families.
| Jo Lipscombe
Since the early 1990s, the number of children and young people remanded to custody has more than doubled and continues to increase. This timely study explores the use of foster care as an alternative to custodial and residential accommodation for young people on remand.
| Julie Selwyn, Wendy Sturgess, David Quinton and Catherine Baxter
Many adopted children are placed with adoptive families after infancy, following very poor early parenting experiences. However, there has been surprisingly little research undertaken on the outcomes for these children, the financial and emotional costs to adopters, or the costs to children’s services. This study provides a unique opportunity to compare the outcomes for fostered and adopted children and to make recommendations for policy and practice.
