Children’s Services: Working Together brings together contributions from a number of authors in the field. The book covers policy, theory, research and practice relevant to students and professionals working with children in a wide range of roles. The emphasis on working collaboratively with other professionals, where appropriate, and the holistic approach to children make this a valuable resource to anyone working with children today.

The importance of interagency cooperation within children’s services has been highlighted within recent government strategy, including the Every Child Matters agenda, the development of Children’s Centres and the expansion of Extended Schools. Following tragic cases such as Victoria Climbie, the need for effective multi-disciplinary teamwork and interagency co-operation across all education and care settings remains as pressing as ever. Working Together in Children’s Services addresses a range of theoretical perspectives and contexts to stimulate students and practitioners critical thinking about the issues of multi-agency working. The book provides the reader with a critical framework for understanding both new and future developments and explores key issues like: The notion of "working together" and what it means in practice The benefits and barriers of multi-agency work Current policy and requirements for successful interdisciplinary working Essential skills for inter-professional teamwork. As modules on multi-professional working become increasingly common, the book will provide core reading for all students of Early Childhood Studies, Initial Teacher Education and Foundation Degrees in the Early Years. By showing how to develop successful multi-agency partnerships, it is also highly relevant for teachers and practitioners working across children’s services.

Safeguarding Children and Young People offers students and practitioners an accessible and multi-disciplinary guide to working together with other professionals to deliver a child-centred and co-ordinated approach to safeguarding, in line with the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance. Taking a ‘whole systems’ approach, and offering support on prevention, assessment, intervention, systems, and leadership, the book reflects on recent challenges including contextual abuse, child sexual exploitation and cyber-abuse. The book includes case studies, activities and points for reflection to aid learning and test understanding.

Written by authors from across the wide range of professional, policy and disciplinary groups involved in this new cross-cutting area of policy and practice, this book provides a critical analysis of the complexities of children's services transformations.

Offering practical advice and guidance on how to establish and maintain effective multi-agency partnership working in your setting, this book will tell you how to meet the Every Child Matters outcomes for children and young people. It clarifies the skills and knowledge required in order to form productive partnerships, and shows you how to set up and maintain good collaborative practice.

Working Together for Children provides an account of the systems and processes of multi-agency work with several groups of children and their families. The key philosophy of the book is that such work is inherently complex, and only by understanding and grappling with these complexities can prospective or practising professionals within children's services contribute really effectively to multi-agency working. This second edition contains updated references to legislation and guidance underpinning multi-agency working, as well as fresh configurations of chapters to reflect new ways of categorising needs of, and organising support for, children in a variety of circumstances. New chapters are included for specific groups of children including coverage of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and youth justice. Reflection on practice, to help link policy with practice, is a theme running throughout the book, which uses features to assist the reader including: - information boxes giving further factual details of particular areas related to multi-agency working - reflective exercises including case studies - questions designed to stimulate reflection on issues raised - an appendix providing points to consider and suggestions for the exercises This introduction is for trainee practitioners in childcare or childhood related courses, education, social work, youth work and health care, or for those already working in such settings who are looking to improve their practice.

This book offers a new approach to help students to understand problematic substance use across a range of social work practice settings. Written from both an anti-discriminatory and evidence-based perspective, the book highlights successful responses to the issues. Each chapter includes reflective exercises and examples of further reading, challenging students to critically reflect on their practice. The book provides a detailed understanding of: " Historical and current policy relating to prohibition and drug use " A range of substances and their potential effects on service users " Models of best practice including screening and assessment, brief intervention, motivation approaches and relapse prevention " Particular issues and needs of a diverse range of service user groups This will be an essential text for social work students taking courses in substance use and addiction. It will also be valuable reading for qualified social workers and students taking related courses across the health and social care field.

Understanding and engaging critically with the field of special educational needs and disability (SEND) is a difficult task. However, the new edition of this bestselling book continues to help students contextualize SEND in relation to historical, ideological and political developments as well as support them in developing a critical understanding of the complexities associated with inclusion. Completely up to date with recent legislation such as the SEND Code of Practice (2014) there are case studies, reflections and activities which will help students question practice they have seen and experienced. Covering the 0-25 age range this book is suitable for all those working with children and young people across education, health and social work.