Abstract

This book shows how carefully planned and assessed treatment can help traumatized children. It outlines how to set up a process for measuring a child's progress towards recovery. Uniquely, the book describes a practical outcomes-based approach that can be provided by an integrated multi-disciplinary team.

Particular themes addressed include the conflict between the child's chronological and emotional ages, the need to work at the child's pace, the importance of the whole-team approach, and the challenges involved in measuring progress. The authors describe clearly defined outcomes for recovery, how children are assessed and how recovery plans are made, and show how progress can be closely monitored and responded to through the continuing process of assessment. An in-depth case study is used to show how this works in practice.

This book forms part of an integrated approach and is an ideal accompaniment to existing titles in the SACCS `Delivering Recovery' series.

I would recommend this book to all social workers and allied professionals working with children who have suffered severe abuse because the writing in this book seems to me to reflect SACCS' committment to providing quality care and the assessment and planning tool discussed is novel and thought-provoking.
The British Journal of Social Work
Patrick Tomlinson is Strategic Development Director of SACCS and author of Therapeutic Approaches in Work with Traumatized Children and Young People. He has over 20 years' experience as a practitioner, manager and director of therapeutic child care services. Terry Philpot is author and editor of several books, including (with Anthony Douglas) Adoption: Changing Families, Changing Times. He co-authored all titles in the SACCS Delivering Recovery series. He writes for several publications including The Times Higher Education Supplement and The Tablet. He has won several awards for his journalism, and is a board member of the Social Care Institute for Excellence
This is a short and clearly written book which firmly follows child-centred and evidence based practice to outline an integrated approach to the assessment and therapy of very disturbed children. It draws on current social work thinking but also includes insights from residential and educational settings. The methods developed by SACCS could be extended to a wide range of family disturbances that have less serious but nevertheless debilitating effects on a child's emotions and development. Most Cafcass practitioners will find new, useful and interesting ideas in this book, and should be able to apply them in their work, particularly with older children, in both public and private law.
CAFCASS Publication Channel C

When this title was suggested to me for review I was expecting a dense doorstep-deep book to arrive in my pigeon hole. Imagine my pleasure to see Tomlinson and

Philpot's 160-page slimline publication with a nice friendly font inside... The authors' language is clear; concepts are well explained and introduced... for the practitioner or manager working within residential care with traumatised children, this book will provide a good introduction for new staff and a point of reflection for 'older hands'.

Practice: Social Work in Action
The book is part of a series that documents the work of SACCS, an integrated recovery programme for children who have been traumatised early in life. One of the authors has extensive experience of working with traumatised children and the other an experienced author, together their compassion for children and their hope of developing better lives for children living in care is very evident. The book is well suited for anyone involved in working therapeutically with children especially those working within inter-disciplinary teams or residential care settings.
Counselling and Psychotherapy Research