Description: Quality Matters in Children's Services brings together authoritative research to explore critical concerns for those working with vulnerable children, young people and their families. Mike Stein discusses key issues for policy and practice in the development of quality services.
Brief description: Mike Stein is a Research Professor in the Social Policy Research Unit at York University, UK. He is also a qualified social worker and has worked as a probation officer, a senior child care officer and an area manager in a social services department. He has spent the last thirty years researching the problems and challenges faced by young people leaving care. He is also a co-ordinator of the Transitions from Care to Adulthood International Research Group (INTRAC).
Review Quotes: The content, issues and questions raised in this publication have relevance not only for children's social care but also for practitioners, managers and commissioners across Children's Trusts. As with previous publications in this series I find the presentation of research evidence in this type of overview format to be really useful. It offers information in an easy to digest way alongside both analysis and discussion of key implications for practice. The incoporation of the Questions sections encourages some real interaction with the text. It also offers a helpful tool for readers at different levels in organisations to consider how the quality of their service might improve to bring about better outcomes. What I particularly like about this publication is the fact that a real effort seems to have been made to link the research to the current children's services context. I also liked the fact that additional materieals have been produced and made freely avaliable designed to help promote and support the implemenation of the key messages into practice.--Research, Policy and Planning