ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the key features of children and families' social work in Scotland, including the most significant historical points and the development of key legislation and policy. It focuses on the role of the children and families' social worker in local authority settings, considering the interface between family support and child protection and the place of the children's hearings. The chapter concludes with a discussion of contemporary themes and issues, and offers some thoughts on future directions. The implementation of the 1968 Social Work Act brought together the separate children's, welfare, health and probation services into single social work departments. Throughout the UK, social workers with children and families experience the effects of the tension between centralising influences and local authority responsibility for formulating and providing services. UK social work with children and families has struggled to find a moral compass that sits with the overall values of the profession.
