BARBARA FAWCETT is Reader in Applied Social Studies and Head of Department of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Bradford. She spent thirteen years working in the field as a practitioner, manager and researcher before taking up an academic appointment. Her areas of special interest include child care, community care, disability issues, mental health and postmodern feminism. She is the author of Feminist Perspectives on Disability.BRID FEATHERSTONE is Reader in Applied Childhood Studies at the University of Huddersfield. She is a qualified social worker and worked for many years with young offenders and latterly as a worker and manager in the field of child protection. She has published widely in the areas of gender and child abuse and is co-editor of Practice and Research in Social Work: Postmodern Feminist Perspectives.JIM GODDARD is Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Bradford. He has worked for a number of years in residential care with children and in the child care pressure group field. His research and writing has increasingly focused on looked after children, but has also included work on youth justice and public policy.

• IntroductionThinking About Children TodayFamily PolicyChild Abuse and WelfareLooked After ChildrenYouth JusticeDisabled Children and Young PeopleChildren, Young People and Mental HealthChildren as CarersConclusion.