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Care orders within the child protection system are some of the most invasive interventions a state can make. This article examines the discretionary space governments set out for child protection workers when they prepare care orders. We analyse the formalized framework for these decisions in England, Finland, Norway and the United States. We focus on knowledge, timelines, how children and parents are involved and accountability. We find that Norway and Finland have highly de-regulated systems with wide discretionary space, whereas England and the United States are highly regulated systems with narrow discretionary space. The United States differentiates itself with relatively little parent and/or child involvement in decision-making. England and Finland do not have defined deadlines for terminating the process, and Norway has few directives on what information to collect. Such differences will influence the quality of decisions as well as the principles of the rule of law.

This study examines the location of British health visiting in contemporary policy discourses concerned with public health and safeguarding children. It argues that professional identity and orientation can be understood through health visiting's long history of public health work with children and families, which has included an engagement with protecting children. The expansive safeguarding children agenda, which includes the requirement to undertake a progressive universal approach to service provision and which incorporates a broad concept of risk and requires early intervention, has created tensions, particularly given current workforce constraints. The location and visibility of British health visiting in the academic and practice worlds also shape how the profession is understood.

A central element of the Every Child Matters reforms in England are measures which aim at improving information sharing. Amongst these are the children's database and the Common Assessment Framework, both representing technological solutions to long-standing concerns about information sharing in child welfare. This article reports some findings from an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded study which examined their introduction and use in everyday professional practice. Substantial differences in policy implementation, access to and use of the technologies, draw attention to the importance of the localised and situated contexts into which these technologies are being introduced, raising serious questions about their future development as national standard systems.

The ways in which government supports families and protects children are always a fine balance. In recent years, we suggest that this balance can be characterised increasingly as 'child-centric', less concerned with families and more focused on individual children and their needs. This article charts the changes in families and government responses over the last 4o years, and the way this is reflected in organisational and administrative arrangements. It notes in particular the impact on everyday practice of the introduction of information and communication technologies. Findings are reported from recent research which shows the struggles faced by practitioners who try to manage systems which separate children from their familial, social and relational contexts. As a consequence, we suggest, the work has become increasingly fragmented and less mindful of children's life within families. While the data and analysis draw on research carried out in England, we suggest that similar changes may be going on in other Western liberal democracies. doi: 10.1017/S0047279410000012

In this paper Lorraine Ellis and Sue Peckover discuss the implications of the current NHS Research Governance Framework for the supervision of Masters level students undertaking empirical research as part [...]

This paper reports upon the learning that emerged from a development project which aimed to facilitate improvements in multiagency work in domestic abuse and safeguarding children. The two-year project (2011-13), funded by the Department for Education and led by WomenCentre, a specialist voluntary sector organisation based in West Yorkshire, was undertaken in nine local authorities in the north of England. Activities undertaken during the project included case mapping, service user and professional engagement exercises, observation of local multiagency meetings and provision of training. An evaluative research study examined the work of the project and the learning that emerged. Drawing upon data from telephone interviews with project participants, analysis of case mapping and project reports, this paper discusses some critical issues which emerged from this project. The paper draws attention to the different understandings and priorities which shape interprofessional practice in relation to safeguarding children and domestic abuse, and the complexities of the wider interagency environment including coordination, resources and expertise. Recommendations for improving multiagency work to achieve better outcomes for women and children experiencing domestic abuse are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages Multiagency working in domestic abuse and safeguarding children is complex and could be improved., The impact of professional differences in how cases are understood and managed, particularly in relation to 'risk', as well as different professional priorities and approaches to working with families should be recognised and considered within the multiagency context., Practitioners may want to consider whether 'case mapping' is pertinent to their own safeguarding practices and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]