Drawing on original research this book provides a challenging and instructive analysis of the nature of the heated and often contradicting arguments of recent years about how to reform the child care system, and the emergence of a central concern with child protection.

It provides a unique insight into the political influences on the 1989 Children Act and the issues it attempted to address, the bargains that were struck in the process of it becoming law and the new balances it introduced between the role of the state, the responsibilities of parents and the rights of children.