Social welfare & social services

Drawing on the history of social care, international comparisons and lived experience, this vital book outlines a different vision of social care as an essential part of England’s economic and social infrastructure that enables people to live good lives.

Essential reading for Best Interests Assessor students and practitioners, this fully-updated handbook gives practical advice on the legal aspects, values and practice elements of the role. It takes account of the Mental Capacity Amendment Act 2019 and the new context for practice in the Approved Mental Capacity Professional role.

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the landscape of voluntary action. This book provides an overview of the constraints and opportunities of mobilising voluntary action across the four UK jurisdictions.

What do the best youth arts programs look like, and how can young people develop through them? This groundbreaking book highlights the conditions needed for youth arts work to be successful, using six international, best practice case studies.

Bringing together leading scholars, this international collection examines different dimensions of ageing and ageism in a range of media and how older adults use and interact with the media.

Contributing to debates on the unpredictability of middle-class attitudes and their changing relations with the welfare states in Europe, this book identifies key trends in the literature and considers the impact of recent welfare reforms on the middle class.

Telling the stories of low-income families, this book exposes the ways that pre-existing inequalities, insecurities and hardships were amplified during the pandemic in the UK and offers key policy recommendations for change.

Developing the new framework of ‘life-mix’, which considers the mixed patterns of caring and working in different periods of life, this book explores the interplay of productivism, women, care and work in East Asia and Europe.

Schools play a vital role in safeguarding children and young people, and this timely book examines how schools identify and respond to child protection concerns, and their engagement with local authority children’s services.

Police officers deal with mental illness-related incidents on an almost daily basis. Ian Cummins explores the policy failures that have led to this situation, and considers how the individuals in police officers’ care should be supported by community mental health agencies.

Acknowledging the religious influences in social work’s roots, Mark Henrickson proposes that it need not be constrained by it. Addressing current debates in international social work about the relevance of different perspectives, this book will allow practitioners and scholars to create a global future of social work.

Challenging the ethics of care as a tradeable commodity, this book introduces the concept of ailment as a framework for understanding social care. Providing examples from Britain and Finland, it demonstrates how ailment shapes all societies, and by addressing the marketisation of care, the authors bring to light increasing inequalities in care.