2
forms and settings in which parenting and care are done. This book is very wide ranging, comprehensive and persuasive. I would highly recommend this book to academics, students, policy-makers and practitio- ners who are interested in the changing nature of family state relationships and the complex social, political and ideological notions of parenting and family life, which inform welfare support for families. Tess Ridge Department of Social and Policy Sciences University of Bath Working with Children, Young People and Families. A Course Book for Foundation Degrees Billie Oliver and Bob Pitt (eds) Learning Matters, Exeter, 2011, 170 pp. £16.99. ISBN 978 0 85725 421 4 The six areas of the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce, which underpin multi-agency work with children, provide the framework of this book. Authors from a range of professional backgrounds contribute chapters that are accessible to foundation degree students and include a wealth of activities, summaries and lists of resources. This book is recommended to both students and prac- titioners at the beginning of their careers in working with children as it provides a practical introduction to child-centred work based around specific themes. Nine chapters address a range of relevant topics such as the construction of childhood, child development, safeguarding, transitions, communication, multi- agency working and diversity. Some of the themes would have been better included consistently across all the chapters. For instance, a chapter addressing child and adolescent development does not include a cultural perspective and an otherwise informative chapter about transi- tions does not go beyond an acknowledgement that children’s experiences are related to gender, social background and ethnic origin. Similarly, a very inter- esting chapter on communication with children describes participation as being informed by the belief that all children are of equal worth but does not discuss use of interpreters and intermediaries where English is not the first language or when the child has disability or communication difficulties. The chapter on diversity provides well-defined theoretical concepts of oppression and discrimination but omits issues of human rights relating to unaccompanied minors and asylum seeking families and does not explore current practice dilemmas related to ethnicity.The concept of childism, as a form of oppression against children, could have been central to this book particularly to the chapter on the construction of childhood. In general, there is minimal reference to children’s rights as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which could have been the backbone of every chapter, provided an important link for some of the themes and resulted in a more cohe- sive text. The chapter on safeguarding children aims to provide an understanding of key legal and policy pro- cedures for child protection and yet confuses assess- ment of children in need with the investigation of child abuse and crimes against children. A description of actual or likely significant harm is not situated within the protocols of Section 47 (Children Act 1989) and the statutory multi-agency guidance of Working Together to Safeguard Children (Department for Educa- tion 2010), which would have included reference to strategy meetings and child protection conferences. The omission of required protocols is repeated in the chapter specifically covering multi-agency working. This states that working together can strengthen support for children, young people and their families but makes no reference to child protection protocols or to the range of professionals required to be involved such as police, health and education. The safeguarding chapter has other significant omissions. The categories of abuse are stated as only very brief excerpts from the guidance, which could lead to insufficiently well-informed practice. Confi- dentiality issues are presented, but the key context of a child protection investigation, where all relevant information must be shared between professionals, is not outlined. A section specifically addressing children and young people at risk emphasizes the need for children to develop resilience and to walk away from abusive contexts. This approach places the responsibil- ity for escaping abuse on the child and needed to be balanced with a focus on targeting perpetrators and seeking justice for child victims. Children defined as needing particular recognition, in terms of vulnerabil- ity, rightly include those who are bullied, disabled children, bereaved children, looked-after children, refugee children, young carers and those whose parent has a mental-health problem or misuses substances. This extensive list might have also included young people in custodial settings known to be at high risk of harm and child victims of domestic violence. This Book Reviews Karen Broadhurst 381 Child and Family Social Work 2012, 17, pp 378–383 © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Working with Children, Young People and Families. A Course Book for Foundation Degrees

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forms and settings in which parenting and care aredone. This book is very wide ranging, comprehensiveand persuasive. I would highly recommend this bookto academics, students, policy-makers and practitio-ners who are interested in the changing nature offamily state relationships and the complex social,political and ideological notions of parenting andfamily life, which inform welfare support for families.

Tess RidgeDepartment of Social and Policy SciencesUniversity of Bath

Working with Children, Young Peopleand Families. A Course Book forFoundation Degrees

Billie Oliver and Bob Pitt (eds)

Learning Matters, Exeter, 2011, 170 pp. £16.99. ISBN 978 0

85725 421 4

The six areas of the Common Core of Skills andKnowledge for the Children’s Workforce, whichunderpin multi-agency work with children, providethe framework of this book. Authors from a range ofprofessional backgrounds contribute chapters that areaccessible to foundation degree students and include awealth of activities, summaries and lists of resources.This book is recommended to both students and prac-titioners at the beginning of their careers in workingwith children as it provides a practical introduction tochild-centred work based around specific themes.Nine chapters address a range of relevant topics suchas the construction of childhood, child development,safeguarding, transitions, communication, multi-agency working and diversity.

Some of the themes would have been betterincluded consistently across all the chapters. Forinstance, a chapter addressing child and adolescentdevelopment does not include a cultural perspectiveand an otherwise informative chapter about transi-tions does not go beyond an acknowledgement thatchildren’s experiences are related to gender, socialbackground and ethnic origin. Similarly, a very inter-esting chapter on communication with childrendescribes participation as being informed by the beliefthat all children are of equal worth but does notdiscuss use of interpreters and intermediaries whereEnglish is not the first language or when the child hasdisability or communication difficulties. The chapteron diversity provides well-defined theoretical conceptsof oppression and discrimination but omits issues of

human rights relating to unaccompanied minors andasylum seeking families and does not explore currentpractice dilemmas related to ethnicity.The concept ofchildism, as a form of oppression against children,could have been central to this book particularly to thechapter on the construction of childhood. In general,there is minimal reference to children’s rights asenshrined in the United Nations Convention onthe Rights of the Child, which could have been thebackbone of every chapter, provided an important linkfor some of the themes and resulted in a more cohe-sive text.

The chapter on safeguarding children aims toprovide an understanding of key legal and policy pro-cedures for child protection and yet confuses assess-ment of children in need with the investigation ofchild abuse and crimes against children. A descriptionof actual or likely significant harm is not situatedwithin the protocols of Section 47 (Children Act 1989)and the statutory multi-agency guidance of WorkingTogether to Safeguard Children (Department for Educa-tion 2010), which would have included reference tostrategy meetings and child protection conferences.The omission of required protocols is repeated in thechapter specifically covering multi-agency working.This states that working together can strengthensupport for children, young people and their familiesbut makes no reference to child protection protocolsor to the range of professionals required to be involvedsuch as police, health and education.

The safeguarding chapter has other significantomissions. The categories of abuse are stated as onlyvery brief excerpts from the guidance, which couldlead to insufficiently well-informed practice. Confi-dentiality issues are presented, but the key context ofa child protection investigation, where all relevantinformation must be shared between professionals, isnot outlined. A section specifically addressing childrenand young people at risk emphasizes the need forchildren to develop resilience and to walk away fromabusive contexts. This approach places the responsibil-ity for escaping abuse on the child and needed to bebalanced with a focus on targeting perpetrators andseeking justice for child victims. Children defined asneeding particular recognition, in terms of vulnerabil-ity, rightly include those who are bullied, disabledchildren, bereaved children, looked-after children,refugee children, young carers and those whose parenthas a mental-health problem or misuses substances.This extensive list might have also included youngpeople in custodial settings known to be at high risk ofharm and child victims of domestic violence. This

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Book Reviews Karen Broadhurst

381 Child and Family Social Work 2012, 17, pp 378–383 © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

chapter would have benefited from the inclusion ofchildren’s voices to provide their well-documentedviews about child abuse. This would have created alink with the chapter on communication, which clearlyemphasizes the importance of active listening, the useof relationship, valuing their opinions and their rightto be heard.

The book concludes with an informative chapter oncurrent changes in the Children’s Workforce, whichoutlines the many developments in the sector in thecontext of recent government reviews. This chapterprovides a critique of the fast changing landscape aswell as describing different roles and responsibilitiesand the range of qualifications and training routes.Overall, the book is an ambitious attempt to coverwide-ranging themes and relevant issues, althoughthere are significant gaps relating to child protection.

Liz DaviesReader in Child ProtectionLondon Metropolitan University

REFERENCE

Department for Education (2010) Working Together to Safeguard

Children. A Guide to Inter-Agency Working to Safeguard and

Promote theWelfare of Children. The Stationery Office, London.

cfs_856 382..387

Gender and Child Welfare in Society

Brid Featherstone, Carol-Ann Hooper,Jonathan Scourfield and Julie Taylor (eds)

Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, 2010, 310 pp, £32.99. ISBN 978

0 470 68187 9

It is not always the case, but with this edited book, thebest place to start is at the introductory chapter.Jonathan Scourfield provides a very helpful whistle-stop tour of concepts of childhood, mothering andfathering, moves swiftly through key strands of femi-nism (and studies of masculinity), covers studies ofchildhood and family life and fits in an overview ofchild welfare developments. He thus sets out theterrain of this very readable, edited book that covers ahuge range of topics. He also provides a helpful over-view of the different theoretical perspectives adoptedin each chapter, thus helping to orient the reader tothe ways in which different theoretical approaches canbe applied.

Although the book focuses on child welfare, itdoes not confine itself to the analysis of children’s

gender alone. It also covers issues in relation to thegender of parents and carers. There is a briefmention of the gender of practitioners – elaboratedin most depth by Mark Smith in his chapter on resi-dential childcare – but this is covered in less detail.In relation to children’s gender, the book addressessome key developmental domains. Lorraine Greenand Julie Taylor explore child gender and health andalso give an interesting comparison between highand low economic resource countries. They showthat whilst inequalities are stark in low economicresource countries, there are also many insidiousinequalities in high-resource countries that are oftenoverlooked. Carol-Ann Hooper explores gender andoffending, Shereen Benjamin gender and schoolingand Mark Smith gender and residential care. Fromthese chapters, there is no one clear message forpractice. Issues of gender do not always favour eitherboys or girls in a consistent fashion. However, thevery clear and important message is that gendershould be given greater attention in practice withchildren.

In relation to work with parents and carers,domestic abuse is clearly one of the practice arenasthat has been most subject to a gender analysis.Simon Lapierre considers ways in which womenexperiencing violence are so often constructed asneglectful, and Mark Rivett takes a critical perspec-tive upon the frameworks for practice with violentmen. Both highlight the impact of domestic violenceon children. The former is based upon empiricalresearch with women who have experienced violencefrom partners and includes very powerful messagesfrom respondents about the limitations of the prac-titioner response. The latter suggests that the ideol-ogy of male responsibility has pushed practice withmen into an unhelpfully constrained and limited boxwhere space for understanding the aetiology of vio-lence is curtailed.

Analysis of models for intervention are provided byJulia Krane and colleagues – who describe a nuancedapproach to applying attachment theory, MargaretMcKenzie – who critically analyses the (oftenignored) gender dynamics in family group confer-ences and Trish Walsh who describes the therapeuticpotential of engaging with both male and femalecarers within child protection work.

As is so often the case, the drawbacks of the bookflow from its strengths. It covers a wide range of topicsand therefore can not go into any of them in any greatdepth. It includes contributions from authors comingfrom very different theoretical and ideological

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Book Reviews Karen Broadhurst

382 Child and Family Social Work 2012, 17, pp 378–383 © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd