Costs And Outcomes in Children's Social Care: Messages from Research

by Beecham, Jennifer; Sinclair, Ian; Dhanda, Parmjit

• ISBN13: 9781843104964
• ISBN10: 1843104962
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-12-15
• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Pub

Summary

The supply of funding for children's service provision is limited, and to make the best use of available resources, services must be run efficiently and cost-effectively whilst achieving the central objective of children's well-being. Co-published with the DfES, this book presents the findings of a set of original research studies and reports on the way that care services for children are delivered, the cost of providing services and the extent to which they improve outcomes for children. It looks at services provided by the statutory, for profit and voluntary sectors and examines how resources are distributed and why; what evidence there is of the effectiveness of the different services; and what changes can and should be made to improve efficiency. From the research findings, Jennifer Beecham and Ian Sinclair draw key messages for practice, both on how best to use resources to support children and on how research in this area should be carried out in the future.

Author Biography

Ian Sinclair is a Research Professor in the Social Work Research and Development Unit at The University of York.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 9
Acknowledgements	p. 11
Introduction	p. 13
The policy context	p. 14
The studies	p. 16
Key concepts	p. 19
The questions addressed	p. 20
Who should read this book?	p. 22
Conclusion	p. 23
Introduction	p. 31
Assessing costs	p. 31
Assessing outcomes and effects	p. 34
Bringing costs, outcomes and effects together	p. 38
Conclusion	p. 42
Introduction	p. 45
Previous overviews: the ideal of partnership and prevention	p. 45
The current studies: the reality of resource distribution	p. 49
The current studies: the reality of collaboration	p. 51
Conclusion	p. 55
Introduction	p. 61
Calculating support package costs	p. 62
How social services spend their money on children	p. 66
Hidden costs	p. 68
Why the costs of supporting children vary	p. 70
Conclusion	p. 76
Introduction	p. 81
Responsive services	p. 82
Specialist services	p. 90
Conclusion	p. 96
Introduction	p. 99
Assessment and care planning	p. 99
Community services	p. 104
Services for looked after children	p. 108
Conclusion	p. 114
Introduction	p. 119
Improving the evidence	p. 120
Balancing prevention and later intervention	p. 122
Improving preventive services	p. 125
Improving later interventions	p. 126
Facing the operating challenges	p. 129
Conclusion	p. 131
DFES Implementation and Advisory Group Members	p. 133
Research Studies and Authors	p. 135
References	p. 137
Selected Reading on Parenting Programmes	p. 137
Subject Index	p. 139
Author Index	p. 143
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