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The article stresses the importance of providing mental health care to mothers who are experiencing losing their children from their care through family court proceedings. Topics mentioned include the rates of deprivation and infants in care proceedings, the mental health impact on a mother of having a child removed from her care, and the effect of the lack of mental health knowledge and skills of social workers on the initiatives to provide social care services to women.

This article is focused on the immediate and enduring consequences of child removal, from the perspective of birth mothers. The article builds on the authors' previous theoretical work on the collateral consequences of child removal and women's vulnerability to repeat family court appearances. Interview data drawn from in-depth qualitative interviews with 72 birth mothers conducted in seven local authority areas are revisited to enable a focused analysis of the immediate and longer-term effects of child removal. Analysis was informed by phenomenology's interest in collective accounts of experience and the pursuit of moderate generalisations. All the women participating in the study had experienced the repeat removal of their children through the family courts, or were involved in child protection proceedings concerning an unborn child, having previously lost a child from their care. Birth mothers recounted an immediate psychosocial crisis following child removal, but also the cumulative and enduring nature of problems. From women's accounts, we have been able to deepen our understanding of the enormity of the recovery challenge for women with long-standing histories of disadvantage who hold fragile and restricted social statuses. Role loss and further exclusionary consequences of child removal were particularly pronounced, given women's limited access to protective resources. A clear set of recommendations for services are set out in a final discussion. The scale of the difficulties women face needs to be recognised in services that aim to promote recovery, if women are to be helped to avoid recurrent family court proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented with topics including use of Geographic Information Systems in social research, dropout of young adults from residential substance use disorder treatment, and use of autobiographical stories for dementia patients.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including social workers, counseling, and child protection.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses the contents within the issue, including articles on topics such as social work for women; youth service providers in Hong Kong, China; and resilience-promoting practices in women in South Africa.

An introduction is presented where the editor discusses various reports in the issue on topics including how low-income Kurdish families make child labour decisions, the internal conversations of individual young people in transition from state care and parental cooperation as key component of alcohol prevention efforts in schools.

The author reflects on the help provided to the birth mothers of newborn infant during early pregnancy whose children were later on adopted or were given in public care in England. Topics discussed includes programme design, mentoring such women and workshop focusing on the interviews with birth mothers.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the participatory research with older people, research and technology, and the emotional impact of social work on practitioners.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue including one by Monika Wilinska on old age in Japan and another by Pooja Sawrikar on cultural diversity and the representation of minority ethnic families in child protection services.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the decision-making process related to assisted living (AL), health care for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, and the role of social care workers in community care.

The topic of parental engagement in the context of child protection is of significant international interest, given much documented problems of achieving effective ‘partnerships’ where professional agencies raise serious concerns about children. This article reports the findings of a qualitative study of interaction between professionals and parents in the quasi-judicial setting of pre-proceedings meetings in England. Recent legislative changes in England and Wales have aimed to improve the prospects for effective partnership work with parents through a revised pre-proceedings process. Through detailed examination of parent-professional interaction using methods of applied discourse studies, the study highlights the constraints that institutional requirements create in terms of the differential rights and obligations of parents and professionals. Inevitably, that talk is asymmetrically organized in favour of the local authority, leads to resistance on the part of parents. The study highlights problems of engaging parents who display both active and passive forms of resistance, as they seek to challenge or reject organizational goals. The study concludes with broader observations about the likely limits of legislative efforts that seek to ‘re-order’ the complex relationships between parents and professionals in child protection work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]