ABSTRACT
This book is written at a time when there is general agreement that too much of the work undertaken for children in need in England and Wales comes under the child protection banner. The debate about the direction the child protection system has taken following the implementation of The Children Act, 1989, has preoccupied policy makers practitioners and researchers. The issues raised encompass philosophical discussions about the nature and morality of judgments about behaviour and standards of parenting, about conflicts of rights and about power and justice. Detailed questions are raised about practice, particularly with regard to the concept of working in partnership. And a raft of policy and procedural issues are raised which require responses at a national level, as well as for Area Child Protection Committees to address locally.
