Social Policy books and resources

Co-Production and Personalisation in Social Care

Changing Relationships in the Provision of Social Care

Edited by Susan Hunter and Pete Ritchie

Co-Production is a model of practice in which service providers work with service users in the provision of social care services - in effect, a working partnership. This book explores the theory and practice of this developing innovative practice in social work and related fields.

Developments in Social Work with Offenders

Edited by Gill McIvor and Peter Raynor

Developments in Social Work with Offenders explains the organisational and legislative changes that have occurred in social work and probation across the UK in the past 10 years, in the context of the accumulating body of knowledge about what constitutes effective practice in the assessment, supervision and management of offenders in the community.

Kinship Care

Fostering Effective Family and Friends Placements

Elaine Farmer and Sue Moyers

Children are frequently cared for by relatives and friends when parents, for whatever reason, are unable to care for their children themselves. Yet there has been very little information about how well children do when placed with kin or how safe they are in these placements.

Managing Children's Homes

Developing Effective Leadership in Small Organisations

Leslie Hicks, Ian Gibbs, Helen Weatherly and Sarah Byford

Managing Children's Homes focuses on leadership, effective management, the allocation of resources, and ensuring positive outcomes for young people in residential care.
The book develops an interdisciplinary understanding of what needs to be taken into account when establishing and maintaining good practice on behalf of young people living in children's homes. The authors explain the considerable variation in quality achieved by children's homes and how this relates to management style, working environment and staff structures. The skills and qualities that make effective managers of homes are explored. These, along with factors such as the provision of resources, are investigated to demonstrate how to attain a successful children's home environment and longer-term achievement for looked-after children.

Morals, Rights and Practice in the Human Services

Effective and Fair Decision-Making in Health, Social Care and Criminal Justice

Marie Connolly and Tony Ward

People respond passionately to issues of human rights, partly because they frame our expectations of fair treatment, equity and justice. Increasingly, work within the human services is influenced by rights-based discourses. Knowledge about the nature and scope of human rights and their attendant moral assumptions are essential theoretical resources for human service workers faced with the ethical complexities of daily practice.

Professional Risk and Working with People

Decision-Making in Health, Social Care and Criminal Justice

David Carson and Andy Bain

Professional Risk and Working with People provides advice on assessing and managing risks for all those employed to take risks with or on behalf of other people.
The authors explore issues of risk assessment and management that provides readers with a broad knowledge of risk practices that can be applied across a range of disciplines. They detail the benefits of risk as well as the potential harm and explain relevant legislation and concepts of negligence in clear and accessible language. Examples of risk policies, systems and effective judgement in managing complex risk decisions are also included.

The Pursuit of Permanence

A Study of the English Child Care System

Ian Sinclair, Claire Baker, Jenny Lee and Ian Gibbs

Children in public care complain that they have too many placements. Professionals agree but little is known about the reasons for this instability or how it affects different groups of children. The Pursuit of Permanence explores this core issue for children's services.

Residential Child Care

Prospects and Challenges

Edited by Andrew Kendrick

Residential Child Care draws on the latest research to offer guidance for developing best practice, policy and improved outcomes for children and young people.
Contributors examine important aspects of residential care work, and address the concerns about the poor outcomes for young people leaving care and the role of residential child care as a positive choice within the range of care services. Key issues addressed include promoting well-being and development for young people; tackling potential discrimination in residential policy and practice; responding to areas of discord in residential child care; and underpinning themes relating to residential child care, such as staff development and support.

Supporting Children and Families

Lessons from Sure Start for Evidence-Based Practice in Health, Social Care and Education

Edited by Justine Schneider, Mark Avis and Paul Leighton

Supporting Children and Families gathers together the lessons learned from perhaps the largest scale social experiment ever undertaken in England - Sure Start, the programme designed to improve the emotional development, health and education of children.

Young People's Transitions from Care to Adulthood

International Research and Practice

Edited by Mike Stein and Emily R. Munro

The transition from care into adulthood is a difficult step for any young person, but young people leaving care have a high risk of social exclusion, both in terms of material disadvantage and marginalisation.

Costs and Consequences of Placing Children in Care

Harriet Ward, Lisa Holmes and Jean Soper

It costs more to place a child in the care of a local authority than it does to send a child to a top boarding school, and there are substantial variations in costs both between and within authorities.

Educating Difficult Adolescents

Effective Education for Children in Public Care or with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

David Berridge, Cherilyn Dance, Jennifer Beecham and Sarah Field

Educational achievements for children in care are significantly poorer than for the general school population. This book explores why this is and how to enable children in care to succeed in the classroom.

Public Services Inspection in the UK

Edited by Howard Davis and Steve Martin

Public Services Inspection in the UK provides a detailed account of the changing role of inspection in public services management. It outlines the continuing debates about providing inspection that encourages not only accountability but also effective service provision and...