The Future Of Children S Care

Over the last decade there has been a series of Government policy initiatives in respect of children’s services and social work education in England, many of which aim to de-regulate or privatise aspects of these services. Critically considering the impact of the MacAlister Review, this book explores the past, present and future of children’s services in the UK from a range of perspectives – lived, professional and academic. This accessible guide provides a timely and incisive overview of the current children’s services reform agenda in the UK. It identifies current challenges, analyses both strengths and weaknesses in the current policy agenda and sets out alternative policy and practice directions for a system that can meet families’ needs.

Bringing together a range of perspectives from practice, lived experience and academia, this is an accessible and timely guide to children’s services reform. Critically considering the impact of the MacAlister Review, the book highlights both the positive and negative aspects of reform, before setting out alternative policy and practice directions.

Assembling key experts and activists in the area of Canadian child care policy, this book makes an important contribution to understanding how Canada, with its particular institutions, politics, and values, should design a national child care strategy.

“… the book successfully presents clear and convincing arguments about the need to re-direct childhood studies and children’s care towards an appreciation of children and care, by providing a careful and very thorough examination of care theory, policy, practice and research.” NetworkChildren's care in the 21st century is increasingly a public issue as well as parents' private concern. A limited vision of children as the responsibility of mothers held sway in Britain long after mothers joined the workforce. Formal childcare is now growing but in the context of care work continuing to be low qualified and low status. A dearth of care looms large as Britain rapidly turns into an overworked society. This critically orientated book draws on a range of key empirical studies carried out in a variety of care contexts. It examines care from the perspectives of children, parents and care workers. It also takes an historical perspective. The discussion is situated in an analysis of economic, social and political change, from modernity to late modernity. It focuses on four key issues: the conceptualisation of care; how care translates its public policy; the nature of the care relationship; how care might be transformed in the future. Rethinking Children's Care will be of interest to students of childhood studies, the sociology of childhood and child welfare. It is also directly relevant to policy makers, trainers and researchers as well as practitioners involved in children's care.

From the universally admired author of the bestselling classic Your Baby and Child: “a masterful work [that could] revolutionize the way America cares for its young children and bring about a radical improvement in the lives of children and their parents” (The Boston Globe). Who is caring for today’s children? How well are they succeeding? What does care cost, and who is paying for it? Leach answers these and other urgent questions with facts and figures gathered from the most current research, brought to life by the voices of parents, including those involved in her own five-year study. She highlights the urgent need in America today for measures to raise the quality of child care and to make the best care we can provide available to all families, just as it is in most other developed nations. Setting out clearly and candidly what is known about every aspect of child care—including the often hidden feelings and fears of parents—Leach presents a critical case for change.