A missed opportunity.

Hill, Malcolm

Social Work with Children, Young People and their Families in Scotland Steve J Hothersall Learning Matters 2006 166 pages 19.50 [pounds sterling]

This publication is part of a series of short textbooks aimed at social work students. It addresses a long-standing gap in the literature by providing a general introduction to work with children and families in the Scottish context.

The format is very accessible for students and, indeed, more general readers. The material is grouped into seven coherent chapters, including one on children in public care of particular relevance to readers of this journal. The concluding chapter gives a topical and helpful account of the Scottish Executive's recent affirmative review of social work in 2006.

The writing is clear, with considerable care taken to explain technical matters or complex ideas in simple terms. The main text is interspersed with boxes including among other things summaries, lists and activities to help students retain or refer to key points, as well as apply them. Puzzlingly, boxes occurring across different chapters are entitled 'Research summary', even though their contents are diverse and usually unrelated to research. For example, one includes illustrations of case law; another refers to social work regulation.

The contents cover most of the essential areas that would be expected of an

introductory text. There is a strong emphasis on the legal and institutional requirements and contexts for practice, with the main aspects of these conveyed lucidly. At various points, Hothersall shows how similar policy issues and dilemmas have recurred at different times. Straightforward overviews are provided of traditional social work theories and of state--family relationships. However, the book is very light on practice issues and skills. Thus, a student reader will learn, for instance, about why and when assessments and reports need to be done, but is given very little guidance about what these consist of or how they are to be carried out. Similarly, the chapter on family support gives almost no details about the range of services that are on offer or the methods available for direct work with children, young people, parents or families as a whole. The book does convey well key principles embodied in the legislation and the children's hearings system, but could have communicated more of a sense of professional mission to help complement, and at times question, legal and agency requirements.

On the whole, the book is geared to local authority social work, with very rare mention made of the substantial contributions of the voluntary/independent sector. An interesting chapter on inter-agency collaboration is included, but the absence of any discussion of consultation and direct work with children, let alone a separate chapter, is disappointing in view of the vital importance of this in so many parts of even statutory social work. Children's rights are briefly referred to, but no material is included to inspire students to engage with children and young people and promote their participation.

Readers will find here an excellent resource for understanding and accessing Scottish Executive materials, which account for over two pages in the bibliography. On the other hand, very little reference is made to published materials with a Scottish basis, which student essays will need to refer to. Although an up-to-date mention is made of two recent innovations in the hearings system (Fast Track and Youth Courts), other research and commentary about the hearings is not discussed. A student who reads the whole book does not learn that there is a UK journal called Child & Family Social Work or another--in which this review is appearing--that concentrates on Adoption & Fostering. Both of these have included significant Scottish contributions over the years. Readers of this journal will be disappointed at the brief and superficial attention given to family placement, with no mention of pioneering Scottish initiatives in this area or of related practitioner and academic research. The short section on permanency consists largely of legal and procedural aspects. It gives no indication of the shifting and at times contested nature of this concept nor associated practice dilemmas. Limited coverage applies equally to residential care, with no mention made of either the work of the Scottish Institute of Residential Child Care nor recent policy and research attention to secure accommodation, for instance.

This book will have considerable appeal and value as a beginning text for students in the early stages of their studies and anyone else new to child and family social work in Scotland. However, much supplementation is required to achieve or enhance effective, reflective practice and management.

Malcolm Hill

Malcolm Hill is Research Professor, University of Strathclyde