This book tells stories of just how powerful social work can be. At its heart are stories drawn from frontline practice, ranging from first interviews through to complex decision-making. Along the way, we meet the social worker who assessed a cat (though for all the right reasons). We witness the cost of failing to protect the rights of adults, exemplified in the tragic death of Connor Sparrowhawk. We also see the transformations that can happen when social workers really get it right - as in the case of Peter, whose love of balloons led them to feature in his care plan. These stories from practice are combined with guidance and reflective exercises to offer valuable practice wisdom and learning for new and experienced social workers alike. By turns funny, wise and moving, this book articulates the personal and professional qualities needed to practise rights-based social work. It reveals the potential of the profession to make a difference to the lives of individuals and to communities.

Ki is a petty thief. Her best friend wills her his solo-flyer-call it a space motorcycle: temperamental, fast as hell, and expensive to maintain. Any reasonable person would sell it to get off the street, but Ki isn't reasonable.Margot is a military vet at loose ends. She blows her entire back pay on a solo-flyer, adecision she instantly regrets but can't bring herself to undo. Margot meets Ki and thinks she's the sympathetic friend she needs when she feels most alone. Ki thinks Margot is an easy markfor food money. They're both right, but lunch leads to a joy ride to planet Ratana, whereMargot is arrested by border control.Ki enlists Ratanese local Zuleikah, a bored rich girl who can think of no stupider, and therefore better, way to spend her time than busting someone out of jail. Together they rescue Margot, but find themselves trapped on a hostile planet on the cusp of civil war.When Zuleikah convinces them that their best bet for escape is to kidnap-er, rescue-Prince Thane from his dreary role in the crumbling monarchy, it results in a chase across the desert and into the farthest reaches of the universe. If they can learn to trust each other, and if the repo men, cops, and three different galactic governments don't catch them, the Galactic Hellcats might just use their solo-fliers to carve a place for themselves among the stars.

The author of Straw Dogs, famous for his provocative critiques of scientific hubris and the delusions of progress and humanism, turns his attention to cats—and what they reveal about humans' torturous relationship to the world and to themselves. The history of philosophy has been a predictably tragic or comical succession of palliatives for human disquiet. Thinkers from Spinoza to Berdyaev have pursued the perennial questions of how to be happy, how to be good, how to be loved, and how to live in a world of change and loss. But perhaps we can learn more from cats--the animal that has most captured our imagination--than from the great thinkers of the world. In Feline Philosophy, the philosopher John Gray discovers in cats a way of living that is unburdened by anxiety and self-consciousness, showing how they embody answers to the big questions of love and attachment, mortality, morality, and the Self: Montaigne's house cat, whose un-examined life may have been the one worth living; Meo, the Vietnam War survivor with an unshakable capacity for "fearless joy"; and Colette's Saha, the feline heroine of her subversive short story "The Cat", a parable about the pitfalls of human jealousy. Exploring the nature of cats, and what we can learn from it, Gray offers a profound, thought-provoking meditation on the follies of human exceptionalism and our fundamentally vulnerable and lonely condition. He charts a path toward a life without illusions and delusions, revealing how we can endure both crisis and transformation, and adapt to a changed scene, as cats have always done.

About half of the undergraduate and roughly 40 percent of graduate degree recipients in science and engineering are women. As increasing numbers of these women pursue research careers in science, many who choose to have children discover the unique difficulties of balancing a professional life in these highly competitive (and often male-dominated) fields with the demands of motherhood. Although this issue directly affects the career advancement of women scientists, it is rarely discussed as a professional concern, leaving individuals to face the dilemma on their own. To address this obvious but unacknowledged crisis—the elephant in the laboratory, according to one scientist—Emily Monosson, an independent toxicologist, has brought together 34 women scientists from overlapping generations and several fields of research—including physics, chemistry, geography, paleontology, and ecology, among others—to share their experiences. From women who began their careers in the 1970s and brought their newborns to work, breastfeeding them under ponchos, to graduate students today, the authors of the candid essays written for this groundbreaking volume reveal a range of career choices: the authors work part-time and full-time; they opt out and then opt back in; they become entrepreneurs and job share; they teach high school and have achieved tenure. The personal stories that comprise Motherhood, the Elephant in the Laboratory not only show the many ways in which women can successfully combine motherhood and a career in science but also address and redefine what it means to be a successful scientist. These valuable narratives encourage institutions of higher education and scientific research to accommodate the needs of scientists who decide to have children.

Archie Morningstar learns a big family secret and helps save the universe. All before breakfast! It's not every day a regular kid like Archie gets to wake up at midnight. But today is Take Your Kid to Work Day, and Archie is finally allowed to ride along in his dad's taxi cab. He has been waiting eight years, eight months, and eight days for this moment to arrive. But he's about to discover his dad is no ordinary cab driver...In fact, he drives an intergalactic space taxi! All night long, he shuttles aliens from one corner of the universe to another. And being a space taxi copilot is no easy task: Archie must steer them into wormholes, keep them from crashing into planets, deal with a very unusual cat...and save the universe from an evil mastermind! Space Taxi marks the debut of a brand new chapter book series from New York Times bestselling author Wendy Mass and teacher Michael Brawer, filled with humor, adventure, and plenty of science to impress your friends and teachers!

There has been a rebirth of interest in bringing community back into social work, but what does community social work mean when applied to practice? What are the opportunities in a landscape dominated by shrinking budgets with their attendant procedural and risk-obsessed assessment and care management models? In this accessibly written book, Colin Turbett explores the erratic history of community social work. He goes on to demonstrate through contemporary examples how this preventative and relationship-based model can work for the individuals and communities served, and also provide an answer to the recruitment and retention issues adversely affecting mainstream settings.

This collection charts the key developments in the social work field from 1970 to the present day and shows how by fully understanding social work’s past, we can make better progress for practitioners and service users in the future. It brings together a broad collection of experts from across social work who trace how thinking and approaches to practice have changed over time, examine key legislative developments in the field, look at the impacts of major inquiries and consider the re-emergence of certain specialisms. Providing students and practitioners of social work and social policy with a full picture of the evolution of social work, it also shares important insights for its future directions.

Lucy Monroe’s first day at Earhart Elementary is one for the yearbook: By recess she has launched herself off the rusty monkey bars and ended up face down onto the blacktop. The principal closes the rickety playground, and now the whole school is mad! What’s a new girl to do? Create a band of geeky friends to build a cool new playground together! Easy, right? Join Lucy, the gang, Hubble the snarky kitty, and their TV reporter buddy, Suzy Pundergast, to find out if they can prove the meanies wrong because when girls stick together, anything is possible!

A must-have text for social work students and practitioners which draws on the extensive years of experience of Principal Social Workers to shed light on contemporary issues. Principal Social Workers are highly skilled and experienced professionals who lead and support social work practice and develop new social workers and social care practitioners. They are senior managers but also remain actively involved with frontline practice so they can report on the views and experiences of practitioners at all levels. Their experience and knowledge is a hitherto untapped goldmine. This book draws upon the years of experience that are represented within the role and gives a voice to the experience of PSWs. Accessible and accurate, these chapters discuss contemporary practice issues such as sustainability, poverty and racism. Common to all the chapters is the central position of the relationship in social work practice. This book will give food for thought to any social worker or social work care practitioner. This book offers a refreshing and accessible take on contemporary practice issues. Presented in an accessible style, each chapter displays an area of practice that has personal resonance for the author. It encourage critical thinking by taking a broader concept and asking the reader 'what does this mean for social work practice?'

This is the story of an anti-racist campaign staged by social workers and allied health professionals which encourages readers to consider their own possibilities for anti-racist action. The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and subsequent expression of anger, frustration and grief at the continued existence of racism led to more sophisticated and honest conversations about racism and its impact. Social work also started to recognise its own problem with racist systems and its failure as a profession that strives for social justice to have addressed this in any meaningful way. The Anti-Racist Social Worker describe a successful campaign of anti-racist direct action that was staged by a small group of social workers and occupational therapists. The opening chapter tells the story of the campaign from the coming together of the campaign group to the concluding day of action. Subsequent chapters are written by campaign members at different stages of their career, from student social worker to Chief Social Worker for England. Each describes journeys to and stories of anti-racist activism. These stories are about either the writers’ experiences of racism and how this translated into action or their growing understanding of the impact of racism and subsequent decision to take personal action. Importantly, each chapter offers a personal case study and therefore a suggestion of individual anti-racist action that can be taken by social workers. The Anti-Racist Social Worker is a call for action told through individual stories. It shows how those in social care and allied health professions can contribute in a meaningful way to the creation of the change we need and encourages everyone to consider their own roles in dismantling racism.