Vulnerable Adults and Community Care
Edited by Keith Brown,
Learning Matters
ISBN 1844450619,
£20
STAR RATING: 5/5
Drawing on the contributions of a range of experienced practitioners, Brown has put together 10 selfcontained chapters that examine some of the issues encountered when working with vulnerable adults in a community setting, writes Elaine Argyle.
In doing so, the book discusses diverse topics including welfare policy, empowerment and adult protection in an accessible way.
In spite of its largely practical orientation, the book goes beyond a purely factual approach by assessing the wider legal, social
Article continues below the advertisement
and political constraints within which social work operates and the way in which practitioners must negotiate these constraints if
the needs of their clients are to be fully recognised and addressed. For example, the problem of meeting client need within the context of limited resources is a recurrent theme.
The social oppression of vulnerable groups and the practitioner’s role in helping to counter this is also well addressed, especially
Article continues below the advertisement
in the areas of learning difficulty and older age.
This book is part of a series of texts that aim to support social workers studying for postqualifying awards and which link to
national occupational standards as well as to specialist PQ standards.
Dr Elaine Argyle is researcher at University of Bradford
