Children, families and social exclusion

Many policy and practice initiatives that aim to prevent social exclusion focus on children and young people. This book seeks to consider new approaches to understanding the complexities of prevention, and how these new understandings can inform policy and practice. The authors use evidence from the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund to illustrate and explore the experiences of children and families who are most marginalised. They consider the historical context of approaches to child welfare, and present a new framework for understanding and developing preventative polices and practice within the context of social exclusion. Preventative initiatives such as the Children's Fund have supported large-scale complex evaluations that have generated rich and important data about strategies for addressing social exclusion and what they can achieve. The findings of this book have direct relevance for all those engaged in developing preventative policy and practice and will therefore be of interest to policy makers, practitioners and students of child welfare and social policy more broadly, in providing a timely discussion of key debates in designing, delivering and commissioning preventative services.

"This important book helps put some of the excitement back into the issues surrounding prevention of the consequences of social exclusion, with messages worth thinking about - and acting on - for practitioners, policy makers and other researchers. " Jane Tunstill, Emeritus Professor of Social Work, Royal Holloway, London University

Kate Morris is Head of Social Work, University of Birmingham. She was the project manager for the National Evaluation of the Children' Fund. She has researched and published in the areas of prevention, family invovlement and muti agency workingMarian Barnes is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Brighton, where she is also Director of the Health and Social Policy Research Centre.She has written and researched extensively in the areas of social exclusion, citizenship and participation and was Deputy Co Director of the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund.Paul Mason was a senior researcher with the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund and led strands of the research. He is now Senior Consultant at GHK International. He has researched and published in the areas of youth crime, research and evaluation methodology and children's preventative services.