Safeguarding and Promoting the Well‐being of Children, Families and Communities
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17466660200600008 |
| Pages | 64-68 |
| Published date | 01 April 2006 |
| Date | 01 April 2006 |
| Author | Emma McWilliam |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care,Sociology |
64 Journal of Children’s Services
Volume 1 Issue 1 April 2006
©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Ltd
Ihave recently been involved in the work of the 21st
CenturySocial Work Review in Scotland. Our task
was to take a fundamental look at all aspects of
social work in order to strengthen its contribution to
the deliveryof integrated services (Scottish
Executive, 2006). One of the review’skey
recommendations was in the area of service
redesign and using evidence-based approaches to
improveperformance. So I was particularly
interested to read this book, which is about
safeguarding and promoting the well-being of
children in affluent western societies. The editors
aim to provide examples of effective services that
are targeted at vulnerable children, families and
communities and to consider approaches to
evaluating outcomes.
The opening chapters set the scene by outlining
the UK context. A comprehensive overview by Fran
Bennett of child poverty and social exclusion is
followed by Gillian Pugh’s generally upbeat
assessment of the impact of the Labour
government policies on children’s services. Key
themes in current developments in children’s
services are identified as (1) a focus on outcomes,
prevention and early intervention, (2) the
integration agenda, (3) building family and
community capacity and (4) increasing the
participation of children and young people in the
design, delivery and evaluation of services. Two of
the later contributions in the book are from
Scotland, so there might have been more
recognition of some of the distinctly different
aspects of this nation’s policies. Moreover, given
that examples in the book of policies and
programmes come from the US, Australia and
Canada as well as from the UK, it would have been
valuable to include a chapter that discusses the
extent to which policy developments in these
countries aremoving in the same direction; for
example, what arethe distinctive differences
between approaches and what is their comparative
effectiveness in meeting children’sneeds?
Even so, most stakeholders in children’s
services will find something of interest amongst
the wealth of material contained in the 17
contributions here. In particular, a number of
examples of promising and/or effective services
are identified. These share at least some of the
following characteristics: clearly defined outcomes;
service components based on research evidence of
what works; potential for replication; robust
methodology for evaluation; and evidence of
improvement on child outcomes, including
sustained improvement after the service ceased to
be delivered and consideration of cost
effectiveness. A considerable amount of evidence
is marshalled to support these points and one
wonders how well much provision in children’s
services would measure up against such criteria.
It pays to look briefly at a couple of the service
examples. ‘Breaking the Cycle’ based in Toronto,
Canada, and ‘Shared Family Care’ based in
California and Colorado in the US, both seek to
improve outcomes for the children of substance-
misusing parents. ‘Breaking the Cycle’ is a multi-
agency prenatal outreach programme. Judy Watson
Book review
Safeguarding and Promoting the
Well-being of Children, Families
and Communities
Edited by Jane Scott and Harriet Ward
London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2005
304pp, £39.99 hardback
ISBN 1 84310 141 6
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