Hedy Cleaver is an emeritus professor at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her experience as a social worker and child psychologist has informed her research on vulnerable children and families and the impact of professional interventions. The findings from her research have had an identifiable impact on policy in the UK in respect to children and families over the last 20 years. She is co-author of Assessing Children's Needs and Circumstances: The Impact of the Assessment Framework, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Don Nicholson was a senior manager in social services before taking early retirement in 1996. Since then Don was involved in a range of research studies that explored the experiences of vulnerable children and families. His death is a great loss to the research community. Sukey Tarr worked as a child psychologist in the UK and Hong Kong, in child welfare in Australia, and as a staff training and development manager, before beginning her career in research. As an independent research consultant she has been involved in a number of national research studies that have evaluated the services provided to children in need and their families. Deborah Cleaver is a freelance social researcher. She has been involved in a number of research studies over the past three years, specializing in quantitative methods.

Acknowledgements. Foreword. 1. Introduction. 2. The response of children's social care. 3. Collaborative working. 4. Families' experience of referral and assessment. 5. Families' experience of services. 6. Plans, procedures and joint protocols. 7. Training. 8. Conclusions and implications for policy and practice. Appendix I. Appendix II. References. Subject index. Author index.