Social Work with Children and Families (Transforming Social Work Practice

'An excellent introduction to social work with children and families. It links practice with legislation and highlights relevant research findings'. - Mr Dan Burrows,Cardiff School of Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University Working with children and families is one of the most challenging, skilled, but ultimately rewarding, areas of social work practice. Social workers need to be able to work with a diverse group of children and their families: from babies to teenagers, single parents to two-parent families and multi-carer families, as well as with a diverse group of professionals, such as the police, schools, hospitals, health centres and various community organisations. They need to be able to understand the law, policy and legislation that surrounds social work with children and families, while continually developing their own skills. Such skills include communication, preparation and planning, intervention, recognition, identification and assessment of significant harm, recording and report writing, managing oneself and the work, problem solving, research and analysis and decision making. This fully revised new edition aims to guide you through all of these areas and more.

There are chapters on safeguarding, substitute care for children, family support for children and families, life story work and direct work with children.

Maureen is an Independent Social Work Consultant who was formerly the Director of Social Work programmes at the University of Leeds. She has substantial experience working with children and families as a social worker and a Guardian ad Litem. She now undertakes independent assessments for court proceedings in a variety of areas and continues her interest in adoption through chairing a local authority adoption panel and the Independent Reviewing Mechanism.