Collaborative Practice with Vulnerable Children and Their Families

June Thoburn , CBE, LittD, is an emeritus professor of social work at the University of East Anglia (UEA). She qualified as a social worker in 1963 and worked in local authority child and family social work and generic practice in England and Canada before taking up a joint appointment at UEA in 1979. As a founding director of the UEA Centre for Research on the Child and Family and of the Making Research Count collaboration, she has a particular interest in finding innovative ways of helping social workers to use knowledge from a range of sources in their practice. Julie Taylor , PhD, FRCN, RN, MSc, BSc (Hons), is a nurse scientist specializing in child maltreatment. She is professor of child protection in the School of Health and Population Science at the University of Birmingham, with previous chairs at the Universities of Edinburgh (NSPCC Child Protection Research Centre) and Dundee (School of Nursing and Midwifery). For three years (2010–2013) she was Head of Strategy and Development (Abuse in High Risk Families) with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). She is the author of eight books and over 100 academic articles.

"This lively and engaging book makes an essential contribution to this woefully neglected area. It takes the reader step-by-step through key areas of law, values and research-based knowledge to encourage confident and compassionate collaborative practice."—Professor Marian Brandon, University Of East Anglia, UK"The content is particularly useful to those who have decision-making and case-accountable roles in providing services to vulnerable children and their parents …This is a timely and interesting book, which I thoroughly recommend."—Jane V. Appleton, Professor in Primary and Community Care

• 1. Collaborative practice: An essential component of the service to vulnerable children and their families 2. Who are the children and families most likely to need additional supportive and protective services? 3. Working collaboratively within legal mandates and statutory guidance 4. The value base for working collaboratively with vulnerable children and families 5. The knowledge-base for collaborative practice 6. Towards effective collaborative practice