News

By Norma Baldwin.
Whiting & Birch
£17.95
ISBN 1861770138

Victoria Climbié enjoyed few rights. And it cannot be claimed that in her brief life her rights were denied in order to best protect her safety. This balance between protection and rights is a key theme in the thoughtful series of essays that Norma Baldwin has brought together.

This book is shaped by the teaching and teachers on the Warwick University advanced course on child protection. It also acknowledges both the child welfare system in Scotland and the particular challenges posed by partnerships with black communities, such as the private fostering of Nigerian children and protection for Asian children. These chapters, in what is a very practical source book, help to show the complexity of the subject matter covered.

Equally useful are considerations of disabled children, issues of rights in education and the physical and sexual abuse of boys.
The book ends with an affirming survey of what people in the Healey ward of Coventry felt was necessary to support their rights to bring up children. This confirms the necessity of listening to people define their own rights and the divergence, sometimes, between private difficulties and public policies.

Chris Hanvey is UK director of operations, Barnardo’s.