Making Child Protection Work
1st Edition
Published on 25. November 2025
240 pages
978-1-4473-7827-3 (ISBN)
Description
Despite its huge public profile, surprisingly little is known about child protection work. Discussion focuses on failures that result in children dying, or on what social workers cannot do, due to bureaucratic pressures and limited time. This book examines in detail how social workers can use the time they do have to relate to children and families, make child protection work and create meaningful change.
Featuring:
* Detailed examination of real-world child protection work and family experiences based on original research;
* A new vocabulary for understanding and improving social work and relationship-based practice;
* New insights into how to provide effective staff support and supervision;
* Original integration of psychoanalytic and sociological perspectives; and
* Practical tools for navigating challenges such as working with infants and managing hostile relationships.
Sure to become a classic social work text, this book explores how helpful relationships are made and sustained, and how they can be made better. It provides a new 'forward-facing' approach, with practical and theoretical insights into how, and under what organisational conditions, relationship-based practice and child protection can be made to work.
Featuring:
* Detailed examination of real-world child protection work and family experiences based on original research;
* A new vocabulary for understanding and improving social work and relationship-based practice;
* New insights into how to provide effective staff support and supervision;
* Original integration of psychoanalytic and sociological perspectives; and
* Practical tools for navigating challenges such as working with infants and managing hostile relationships.
Sure to become a classic social work text, this book explores how helpful relationships are made and sustained, and how they can be made better. It provides a new 'forward-facing' approach, with practical and theoretical insights into how, and under what organisational conditions, relationship-based practice and child protection can be made to work.
Reviews / Votes
"This book is a remarkable feat and a gift to the profession - I was engrossed from the start; where else can a practitioner learn from hundreds - nay, thousands - of hours of observations, interviews and interactions with children, families and social workers in one sitting? Ferguson so skilfully humanises not only the people that social workers serve but social workers themselves, exploring strategies to work with, not against, vulnerability and complexity but also strength. One of its most groundbreaking contributions is through the exploration of the use of the embodied self in practice - something often entirely missing in social work education. This holistic approach draws out practice wisdom from head, heart and felt knowledge, bringing social work to life through the five senses. Read and be transformed." Rebekah Pierre, author and care-experienced social work campaigner."A rich, insightful exploration of the realities of child protection - messy, complex, but always centred on children and relationships. Essential reading for students and practitioners alike." David Wilkins, Professor of Social Work, Cardiff University "A beautifully vivid, research-informed account of child protection practice, offering social workers guidance through the emotional, sensory and relational dilemmas of their everyday work with children and families." Laura L. Cook, University of East Anglia.
"The importance of relationships in promoting positive and effective child protection is central to this excellent book. Informed by practice wisdom and underpinned by a lifetime of research, this is an excellent resource for both newly qualified and experienced professionals." John Devaney, University of Edinburgh
"No one captures the soul and texture of child protection like Harry Ferguson. This landmark book feels, sees and hears the work - illuminating its intimacy, complexity and ethical depth. Deeply human and utterly essential." Richard Devine, social worker and author of Messy Social Work
More details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Bristol
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bristol University Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Reflowable
Illustrations
Not illustrated
File size
1,03 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4473-7827-3 (9781447378273)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Harry Ferguson
Making Child Protection Work
Book
approx. 11/2025
1st Edition
Policy Press
€34.00
Not yet published
Harry Ferguson
Making Child Protection Work
Book
approx. 11/2025
1st Edition
Policy Press
€136.50
Not yet published
Person
Harry Ferguson is Professor of Social Work at the University of Birmingham. He has taught and researched child protection for 35 years and is among the most read social work academics in the world.
Content
Introduction: Bringing child protection to life
1. The Child Protection System: the making of practice
2. Starting Relationships: Investigating and assessing child protection concerns
3. Relationships Over Time: Care, holding and reliability
4. Automated Practice: The invisible, unheld child
5. Disorganised Practice: Chaotically thought about and unsafe children
6. The Intimate Pattern: Seen, heard and held children
7. Hands-On Practice: Making relationships with babies and young children
8. Holding Relationships: Helping parents, families and enabling change
9. Hostile Relationships: Conflict and good authority in working with involuntary service users
10. Close or Distant?: Relational styles in child protection work
11. Crafting Relational Spaces: Digital, outdoor and mobile practices
12. Beyond Reflective Practice: Help with thinking and non-thinking
13. Holding Environments: Supervision and live organisational support for relational practice
14. Making Child Protection Work Well
Appendix A: Methodology and the research studies
Appendix B: The Practice Cycle Worksheet
1. The Child Protection System: the making of practice
2. Starting Relationships: Investigating and assessing child protection concerns
3. Relationships Over Time: Care, holding and reliability
4. Automated Practice: The invisible, unheld child
5. Disorganised Practice: Chaotically thought about and unsafe children
6. The Intimate Pattern: Seen, heard and held children
7. Hands-On Practice: Making relationships with babies and young children
8. Holding Relationships: Helping parents, families and enabling change
9. Hostile Relationships: Conflict and good authority in working with involuntary service users
10. Close or Distant?: Relational styles in child protection work
11. Crafting Relational Spaces: Digital, outdoor and mobile practices
12. Beyond Reflective Practice: Help with thinking and non-thinking
13. Holding Environments: Supervision and live organisational support for relational practice
14. Making Child Protection Work Well
Appendix A: Methodology and the research studies
Appendix B: The Practice Cycle Worksheet
