Evaluating Child Protection

The label of child abuse covers a wide variety of symptoms, behaviours and contexts. Child abuse cases are the products of complex processes of identification, confirmation and disposal rather than being self evident in the child's presenting condition. For those involved in child abuse work who are in desperate need of the research tools to help them make sense of this situation, David Thorpe's book will be invaluable. It describes a project which was used in the design of a computerized child protection information system. Based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of 325 substantiated and 'at risk' child protection cases reported to a state child welfare agency, it focuses on the outcomes of child protection interventions as described in case file text. Chapters in the book deal with both gender and ethnicity issues in child protection and show how gender and racial discrimination can lead to the overrepresentation of these significant social groups. The methodologies which David Thorpe outlines and discusses here are replicable elsewhere. Perhaps most crucially the book will enable managers and practitioners to take greater control of their work and have greater confidence in what they do and the decisions they make.