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by Graham Allan (Contribution by), Pat Dolan (Editor), John Canavan (Editor)
The contributors to this topical volume explore the role of family support in promoting the welfare of children and their families. They show how children can be supported in the development of their full potential despite adverse experiences. Family support enables children to access the variety of resources available to them in the multiplicity of contexts in which they live.
Family Support: Direction from Diversity integrates concepts and experiences from an international perspective, different levels of analysis (society, community and family) and different loci of intervention (education, social services and local government). Specific areas covered include: * principles of family and social support * social networks and social change in the family and the community * reciprocal support between families, schools and the community * restoring the balance of control between parents and children * supporting young people who misuse drugs. Family Support presents current knowledge about family support and sets out directions for future developments in thinking and service provision. It shows how an understanding of the complexity and potential of family support can inform and enrich the work of educators, professionals, service providers, policy makers and academics.Author Biography
John Canavan is a full-time researcher with the department of political science and sociology at the National University of Ireland in Galway. His work over the past five years has focused on evaluating health and education service interventions targeting disadvantaged young people. He has recently been involved in the development of self-evaluation systems with regional health authority social work teams. Pat Dolan is regional coordinator of the Adolescent and Family Support Services at the Western Health Board in Galway, Ireland. He worked for many years as a practitioner in the child care field and has recently been engaged in important research into social network maps and their use as a tool in working with vulnerable teenagers and their families. John Pinkerton is Senior Lecturer in Social Work/Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Child Care Research at Queen's University, Belfast in Northern Ireland. His particular research interest is community-based social work as the meeting point for state and civil society. He has published widely in the fields of child care and social work.
