Family Support

Pat Dolan holds a UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He leads the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre and directs the MA in Family Support Studies, which for over 15 years has had the development of family support as a major goal. At different times in his career he has been a successful practitioner and senior manager in the area of family support. Apart from his extensive research experience in the field, he has provided policy advice on family support to national statutory and voluntary agencies and to international organisations. Pat is widely published on Family Support. John Canavan is Associate Director of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, a research and policy centre for which Family Support is a major area of interest. He has over 20 years' experience in undertaking project evaluations and providing policy advice to statutory and voluntary agencies, and to government. Over the last seven years he has led a series of major evaluations on a programme of investment in children's services in Ireland. He teaches on the post qualifying Diploma/MA in Family Support Studies at the National University of Ireland, Galway and co-directs the Structured Ph.D. in Child and Youth Research at the university. His academic writing covers Family Support and related topics, and Evidence Informed Practice. Robbie Gilligan is Professor of Social Work and Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin and associate director of the Children's Research Centre. He has written extensively on child care and foster care. John Pinkerton is an established academic known for his research and writing in the area of family support. His work is heavily influenced by an international perspective. For the last 15 years he has been an international advisor to the Children's Institute, University of Cape Town. In preparation for legislative change in the 1990s he led a research team from Queen's University Belfast in producing a base line study of family support in Northern Ireland. He has advised government on family support in both the North and South of Ireland. His teaching covers both qualifying and post qualifying training in social work. He is Co-Editor of the British Journal of Social Work, leading on its family and child care content.

• Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. Family Support: Issues and Prospects, Robbie Gilligan, Trinity College, Dublin. 2. Communities, Family Support and Social Change, Graham Crow and Graham Allan, University of Southampton. 3. Social Pedagogical Family Help in Germany: New Wine in Old Vessels or New Vessels for Old Wine?, Joachim Wieler, Fachhochschule Erfurt, Germany. 4. Children in Control: Helping Parents Restore the Balance, Martin Herbert, University of Exeter. 5. Social Support Principles for Strengthening Families: Messages from America, Carolyn E. Cutrona, Iowa State University. 6. Refocusing Project Work with Adolescents Towards a Family Support Paradigm, John Canavan, National University of Ireland, Galway and Pat Dolan, Western Health Board, Galway. 7. Drug Prevention: Turning Towards Family Support, Saoirse Nic Ghabbainn, National University of Ireland, Galway and Fiona Walshe, Western Health Board, Galway. 8. Developing Reciprocal Support Among Families, Communities and Schools: The Irish Experience, Sandra Ryan, University College Cork. 9. Creating Municipal Structures for Family Support in a Danish City, Peter Steen Jensen, City Planning Department, Odense, Denmark. 10. Emerging Agendas for Family Support, John Pinkerton, The Queens University of Belfast. References. Index.

Practitioners and policy-makers, across a wide spectrum of agencies responsible for providing child protection and family support services, will welcome this new contribution to the field of child care. The book helps to consolidate our current knowledge and identify the common themes necessary to develop family support as an integral part of mainstream and specialist services in the future.