Costs and Outcomes in Children's Social Care

Dr Jennifer Beecham is Professor of Health and Social Care Economics at PSSRU, University of Kent, and Principal Research Fellow at PSSRU, London School of Economics and Political Science. She has worked on the development of better unit cost methodologies, as well as cost analyses and cost-effectiveness evaluations of services for children and young people, including children with learning disabilities, children with mental health problems, disabled children and those who are supported by social care services. Ian Sinclair is a Research Professor in the Social Work Research and Development Unit at The University of York, where he has been responsible for a large programme of work on children's homes, foster care and movement within the care system. He was academic coordinator for the costs and effectiveness initiative on which this book is based. He is the author of Fostering Now: Messages from Research and the lead author of Foster Children: Where They Go and How They Get On, Foster Carers: Why They Stay and Why They Leave and Foster Placements: Why They Succeed and Why They Fail, all published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

• Foreword. Acknowledgements. 1. Introducing the Book. 2. How the Studies were Done. 3. Delivering Care Services: The Ideal and the Reality. 4. Costs and the Way they Vary. 5. Interventions Unrelated to the Care System. 6. Interventions Related to the Care System. 7. Conclusion. Appendix A: DfES Implementation and Advisory Group Members. Appendix B: Research Studies and Authors. References. Selected reading on parenting programmes. Subject Index. Author Index.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book and the associated online resources to those with responsibility for commissioning and delivering social care services for children and their families.