Social Work with Children in Care: Looking After Children in Theory and Practice

This introduction to social work with children and young people who are looked after (in care or accommodated) by statutory or voluntary agencies is the only textbook on the subject which addresses this area of work across all four nations of the UK.

Providing a clear theoretical and ethical basis, it introduces and develops a set of core themes, reflective of contemporary developments including:
- the influence of, and tensions between, dominant discourses that shape the social work service (relationship-based practice, early intervention and prevention, social innovation, evidence-based practice and outcomes);
- the use and abuse of concepts of ’children’s needs’ and ’best interests’;
- ideas of parenting and parental responsibility, and the relationships between children, families, communities and the state;
- the importance of recognising that children and young people have rights and considering their views;
- trauma, trauma-informed practice, transitions and resilience.

With chapters addressing a sequence of topics - assessment and planning, residential and foster care, leaving care, and permanence - there is a specific focus on working with disabled children, children from minority ethnic communities, and marginalised groups of children and young people, including refugees and asylum seekers, LGBTQIA+ children and those who have been trafficked.

Packed full of useful pedagogical features, including material on the legal and policy context, summaries of research evidence, notes for good practice, group teaching exercises, references to legislation and guidance, and guides to further reading, it will be core reading on any child and family care modules, general preparation for practice courses, Frontline, Step Up, as well as for all social work practitioners.

Nigel Patrick Thomas is Professor Emeritus of Childhood and Youth at the University of Central Lancashire. He was a social worker and team leader for twenty years before becoming an academic. He established the first all-Wales Postqualifying Child Care Award.

Karen Winter is a Professor in Children’s Social Care at Queen’s University Belfast. Prior to her academic career, Karen worked for 16 years as a social worker and team manager with children and families, and latterly as a guardian representing children in court proceedings.