ABSTRACT
The specific exploration of specialist residential therapeutic services for children and of recent child law and initiatives to promote child welfare, whilst separate, run parallel to this larger debate and share many of these key themes. Whenever residential provision for children and young people receives public or media attention, usually the issues raised concern some failing of these services. Scant consideration is paid to the views of residential staff groups in terms of how they feel their services are perceived and used by their purchasing colleagues based in the community. Further primary data was gathered from interviews with personnel working for the larger charitable bodies, all of which had long histories of providing residential services for children. A reluctance to use residential provision as a care or treatment option of first choice for children and young people has been evident. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
