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Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the aspects of social work for children, primarily in England.


Design/methodology/approach
It is based on reflections on research undertaken by the author prior to 1995 and after 2015.


Findings
The paper explores the interaction between people – effective leaders and practitioners – and systems.


Research limitations/implications
It is an opinion piece, and does not present findings from a single study.


Practical implications
It urges systems that do not restrict the capability of practitioners.


Social implications
The value of social work services at times of significant social disadvantage demands strong public policy attention.


Originality/value
The study draws on several research and case studies in over 20 English local authorities

Michael Little discusses issues raised in Roy Parker's recent book, Change and Continuity in Children's Services. Bristol: Policy Press (2015) 216 pages. £80. ISBN: 978 1 447 32222 1.

Adoption and fostering are about providing children with families. National policies will obviously influence what actually happens, but in recent years the way policies are made and implemented has become as significant as the policies themselves. This is confirmed by two books describing the fashioning and implementation of two major child welfare initiatives in the UK — Providing a Sure Start (Eisenstadt, 2011) and Instruction to Deliver (Barber, 2008). Reviewing them together, Michael Little discusses how the process of developing social policy changed under New Labour and argues that this new situation is likely to endure.

Should the state continue to provide substitute care? With a new UK government likely to implement a number of changes in social care provision, Michael Little challenges the effectiveness of current services provided by the state for looked after children.

Roy Parker's book Uprooted1 charts the events that led to 80,000 children being shipped to Canada by the Poor Law and voluntary bodies during the 50 years following confederation in 1867. Michael Little discusses the issues raised by this historical study for current policy and practice and charts the conditions that allow for government and children's services to collude with potentially damaging interventions in children's lives.

Ireland has suddenly become a hub of activity around children's services ‐ at central and local government levels, involving the primary statutory and voluntary agencies, and engaging some of the more disadvantaged communities. In the first article in the series, Sylda Langford (2007) described the origins and work of the Office of the Minister for Children (OMC), of which she is Director General. In the second article, Michael Little and Ali Abunimah (2007) considered the role of $200 million philanthropic investment in the reforms, specifically a 10‐year programme of work funded by Atlantic Philanthropies to encourage strategy development and service design to improve outcomes for children on the island of Ireland. Part of that investment is being made in what are called 'community engagement sites' ‐ economically disadvantaged communities with a child population of between 3,000 and 7,000. In this article, Katherine Zappone examines the reform process at local level as the leader in one of the community engagement sites. She describes the approach they took and products of the work so far and discusses problems and opportunities that have been encountered along the way. The next (and last) article in the series (by a leading figure in the voluntary sector) will put the reforms into the context of the evolution of children's services in Ireland over the last 20 years.The first section of this article draws on the Tallaght Strategy document, written by Katherine in dialogue with a research team, followed by an edited transcript of Katherine's interview.

Fostering Now (Sinclair, 2005) is one of the most important books on foster care in recent years. It presents new information and is part of a series of publications on children's services designed to convey research messages to policy makers and practitioners. However, Michael Little argues that if key questions are to be answered and effective services developed, different types of research and new methods of dissemination are needed.