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This article highlights work underway in three English local authorities to promote effective inter-agency collaboration around the education of looked after children. Insight drawn from these local authorities is used to review previous literature concerning inter-agency collaboration in a variety of contexts. The relevance of previous research to issues concerning the education of looked after children is discussed and key factors associated with effective collaboration are highlighted. Barriers which have served to obstruct joint working and strategies adopted to deal with these are also discussed.

This article reports the findings from a series of "Talkshops"--interactive facilitated discussions--undertaken with 114 young people from six secondary schools serving one town within Northern Ireland. The young people first met with the researchers in their own schools, then an elected group came together in combined Talkshops and, finally, a group of six young people, one from each school, met with the researchers to help analyse the data and prepare a presentation on the results. Through the Talkshops the young people explored their views on sectarianism, and the factors they felt helped such attitudes develop; they considered how this impacted on their day-to-day lives and how they had learned to deal with difference. They also considered how things could be different in the future, suggesting ways to promote anti-sectarianism. The article reports the views of the young people, concluding with their summary statement--the message these young people wanted to be heard by adults within Northern Ireland.

Children's participation in decision-making is complex: it is undertaken for different purposes and is reflected in different levels of involvement, different contexts and different activities. This paper reviews the current state of participation and, drawing on practice and research literature, highlights several aspects of practice where further consideration is needed if participation is to develop positively. This suggests that, if participation is to be more meaningful to children and effective in influencing change, it is necessary to move beyond one-off or isolated participation and consider how participation becomes embedded as an integral part of our relationship with children.

Working in partnership with parents is a guiding principle of Great Britain's Children Act 1989. Requirements cover care plans and reviews for children looked after by the local authority. This article examines whether working in partnership with parents has been translated into practice, using findings from a major research evaluation of child care planning under the Children Act. (EV)

This article reports the findings from a series of "Talkshops"--interactive facilitated discussions--undertaken with 114 young people from six secondary schools serving one town within Northern Ireland. The young people first met with the researchers in their own schools, then an elected group came together in combined Talkshops and, finally, a group of six young people, one from each school, met with the researchers to help analyse the data and prepare a presentation on the results. Through the Talkshops the young people explored their views on sectarianism, and the factors they felt helped such attitudes develop; they considered how this impacted on their day-to-day lives and how they had learned to deal with difference. They also considered how things could be different in the future, suggesting ways to promote anti-sectarianism. The article reports the views of the young people, concluding with their summary statement--the message these young people wanted to be heard by adults within Northern Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.' (Article 12, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) 'Before making any decision with respect to a child … a local authority shall, so lar as is reasonably practicable, ascertain the wishes and feelings of the child.' (Children Act 1989, S.22 (5)(a)). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social services departments entered the 1980s in a state of some disarray. The numbers of children in care had been rising steadily, criticisms were being forcibly expressed of both policy and practice in child care, and local authorities were operating in a climate of economic restraint. The response to these conditions in Leicestershire, as in other authorities, was a child care strategy which offered a reappraisal of child care policies, in particular policies relating to the reception of children into care. This resulted in the establishment of area panels to consider any case were there was the possibility of a reception into care. The purpose of the panel is to ensure that all community alternatives have been fully explored, to identify the specific advantages of a reception into care, and to plan future action whether the child comes into care or remains at home. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Editorial. Significant changes have occurred to the way in which children in the society are perceived. Such changing environment has both impacted upon and been influenced by social researchers. Today, researchers have recognized the significance of directly recording children's own perspectives. Social researchers are more likely to be engaged in research with children rather than just research on children. Meanwhile, experience in listening to and involving children in research is still relatively new and raises a number of vital ethical and methodological questions. It is the significance, relevance and the complexity of these questions that has prompted the June 1996 issue of the periodical "Children & Society."