Examining the assessment of need in children's services this book addresses the full spectrum of practice, policy and research developments in the field. The contributors show how needs assessment in children's services can be used to tackle problems such as low achievement, and social exclusion at both individual and strategic levels.

This book explores what elected members, social services and education departments can do to help children stay in school.

Planning to Care examines how the quality and effectiveness of planning practice in both rural and urban settings was reshaped, drawing on the views of young people and their parents as well as practitioners.

This ebook illustrates the day to day work of providing social services to adolescents: it describes the context of that task, its complexities, it's limitations, some of its successes and failings.

An evaluation of the Taking Care of Education project, which aims to support a small number of local authorities in deploying a range of policies to improve the educational achievements of looked after children.

This book presents the results a a two-day consultation with children and parents from 19 countries. "How would you define positive parenting? What characterises negative parenting? How does smacking make children feel? What does it teach them? What are the alternatives to smacking?". Exercises and questions that children and parents addressed on this occasion are presented in this publication and could be used in other similar consultations in the member states.

Updated in 2009, this guide offers tips and advice to looked after young people about how they can have more say in their care