"The timing of the publication with the revised Working Together guidelines could not be more advantageous. This book is a unique and important contribution to child care literature. No agency should be without." - Child Abuse Review Professionals concerned with the protection of children face many challenges. This work demands knowledge from several disciplines, a wide variety of skills, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The editors, Howard Dubowitz, a pediatrician, and Diane DePanfilis, a social worker, together with over 70 experts in this field offer what is known about how best to work with maltreated children and their families, in a very practical, concise, and user-friendly way. Structured to follow the life of a case from the time a report of child maltreatment is made through the various pathways in the child protection system, this edited volume synthesizes the best practice principles for responding to reports of child abuse and neglect; engaging children and other family members in intervention; developing cross-cultural practice competencies; assessing risk, evaluating safety, and conducting family assessments; defining outcomes and planning intervention; evaluating risk reduction; and making permanency decisions; and discusses the unique legal, medical, ethical, and other practice issues that work in the child protection field involves. Professionals facing tough dilemmas in practice should find valuable guidance in these pages.

'Domestic Violence and Child Protection' explores the challenges of working effectively in this complex field and offers positive models for practice. Leading practitioners and researchers outline the essential safety considerations for children, adult victims and child protection workers.

This open access book critically explores what child protection policy and professional practice would mean if practice was grounded in human rights standards. This book inspires a new direction in child protection research – one that critically assesses child protection policy and professional practice with regard to human rights in general, and the rights of the child in particular. Each chapter author seeks to approach the rights of the child from their own academic field of interest and through a comparative lens, making the research relevant across nation-state practices. The book is split into five parts to focus on the most important aspects of child protection. The first part explains the origins, aim, and scope of the book; the second part explores aspects of professionalism and organization through law and policy; and the third part discusses several key issues in child protection and professional practice in depth. The fourth part discusses selected areas of importance to child protection practices (low-impact in-house measures, public care in residential care and foster care respectively) and the fifth part provides an analytical summary of the book. Overall, it contributes to the present need for a more comprehensive academic debate regarding the rights of the child, and the supranational perspective this brings to child protection policy and practice across and within nation-states. .

Deals with the direct practice of child protection in an Australian context, focusing on evidence based practice and complex issues such as mental health, substance abuse and the over-representation of indigenous children.

Good Practice in Safeguarding Children considers how front-line professionals can keep the best interests of the child at the heart of their work when statutory guidance, the way agencies are integrated and the delivery of services are changing. Liz Hughes and Hilary Owen have drawn together contributors' experiences of working with safeguarding children on a broad range of issues, including neglect, trafficked children, parents with learning difficulties and child protection supervision. The contributors discuss current dilemmas in safeguarding children work and provide models of good practice, including case scenarios and exercises. This book explores how changes in the system offer an opportunity to enhance the quality of service provision, to achieve better outcomes for children and their families. This book is a must-read book for all front-line practitioners involved in safeguarding children, including social workers, child and adolescent mental health practitioners, police officers, healthcare professionals, probation workers and teachers. It is also suitable for undergraduate, post-graduate and post-qualifying students.

Good Practice in Child Care offers comprehensive guidance for all early years workers and students. The text includes coverage of legal issues, examines the roles of various child protection agencies, and gives advice on how to work with parents.

Children who receive child welfare services are a vulnerable group, and their numbers are growing. All who care about them need to be fully informed about current outcomes, indicators of success and failure, and best practices. This second edition of Child Welfare: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice has a special focus on Canadian child welfare and contains entirely new material on these important themes. The book highlights major developments in child welfare and shows how these inform directions taken in research, policy, and practice. The book includes new sections on Indigenous issues and best practices, and several of its chapters review efforts to increase supports for families in need. Contributions from new and international authors illustrate the endemic nature of child welfare challenges and how we can learn from these experiences. Contributors provide recommendations for promoting best practice and enhancing resilience among children and families. Closing chapters within each section and at the end of the book summarize key theoretical and practice issues along with recommendations to improve the research, policy, and practice continuum in child welfare. The challenge is to translate good research into policy and practice in ways that enhance the life chances of children who need our care and protection.