ABSTRACT
The social environment where children live receives far more attention from the public services than is ordinarily reported. The activities of the Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions, of housing departments and local associations, of health authorities when dealing with the geographical distribution of illness, and, to a lesser extent, of community policing, youth work and neighbourhood schemes organised through education and social services, all have a significant impact on how children are brought up. In the 1960s the Educational Priority Areas and in the 1970s Community Development Projects attempted social engineering on a wide scale. Equivalent initiatives, albeit with a different emphasis, have had similarly broad appeal in the United States. In England and Wales, Child Protection: Messages from Research provided general evidence about the strengths of family support as an early intervention to protect abused or possibly abused children.
