This audit by Scope, subtitled “Removing Barriers to family life”, examines the family life of people with disabilities and in particular the barriers that they face. The main focus of the report is to understand family experiences, examine factors affecting family life and look at the journeys that families undertake. The report concludes that without support all families with disabled children face substantial barriers in everyday family lives. There are some interesting graphs in the appendix of this report. Take a look – it’s very interesting.
- Read the report – download here (pdf, 496kb)
This research brief, entitled ‘Care and Support Needs of Male Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse’, provides an overview of the findings, recommendations and implications of a study conducted by the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships in the University of Edinburgh and Health in Mind. The keys points of this research are:
- Only 1/4 of survivors had told someone about the abuse, and very few of these were believed
- Concentration and achievement at school was severely affected by trauma
- There is a considerable need for services for male survivors of abuse in Scotland

This booklet is one of a series of guides to parenting positively, which aims overall to provide information and guidance to parents of children between the age of 6 and 12 years. The goal of these guides is to create a positive, loving and supportive relationship between parent and child. This guide in particular highlights information about abuse, signs of abuse, what to do and sources of further information.
The guide was produced by the Family Support Agency and Barnardos.
You may also be interested in the Incredible Years parenting course.
Developed by the Department of Health and Children, this document aims to inform community and voluntary organisation who provide services for children. It “offers guidance on the promotion of child welfare and the development of safe practices in work with children”. It outlines a number of principles of good practice, the key elements of each and discusses the issues raised. This documents also provides information on recognising the signs of child abuse and the correct steps to take if it is suspected, witnessed or disclosed.
This is one chapter of a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This chapter focuses on Serious Case Review. The guide was developed by the Department of Children, Schools and Families and was released in December 2009.
This document, from the Department of Children, Schools and Families, contains the Joint Chief Inspectors’ 22 recommendations for safeguarding children in the UK from July 2008. It also contains an “Action Update” on each point, which outlines what the government has done.
This research brief, commissioned by the Department of Children, Family and Schools, focuses on emotional (or psychological) maltreatment. It reviews the literature to determine what works in preventing emotional maltreatment before it occurs and to prevent its recurrence. The focus here is on parents or primary carers of children up to 19 years old. The brief presents the key findings, methodology, results and implications for practice. Key findings include:
- Emotional abuse results in part from learned behaviours, psychopathology and unmet emotional needs
- The four major theoretical approaches are: Psychodynamic; Attachment; Behavioural/ Cognitive; and Family Systems Theory
- There is a lack of evaluation of certain approaches
This report was published by Ofsted in July 2009. It outlines how effective strategies and services help improve the quality of life for care leavers and assist them to make successful transitions into adulthood and independence. This small survey was based on research in six local authorities and four secure provision, as well as social care inspections and care leavers’ views and experiences. Key findings include that leaving care was not seen as a single event; leaving care workers formed positive relationships with care leavers; and limited access to employment opportunities disadvantaged some care leavers
This report, commissioned by the Department for Children, School and Families studies the dynamics in six local authority areas, to ascertain:
- How do the starting points for the support programme differ across local areas?
- How do leadership and structural arrangements differ across local areas?
- What are the key support needs identified by commissioners?
The study comprises research interventions, case studies and semi-structured interviews. Key people involved with the research included the Director of Children’s Services, elected members, voluntary and community sector representatives, head teachers and other individuals.
This research brief highlights the major findings from a Department for Children, School and Families study on the pupil and school characteristics that surround bullying. It focuses primarily on secondary school pupils aged 14 to 16 in England. Among the findings are that almost half (47%) of young people reported being bullied at age 14, decreasing to 29% by the age of 16.