The North American approach to child protection is broadly accepted, despite frequent criticisms of its core limitations: parental fear and resistance, the limited range of services and supports available to families, escalating costs, and high stress and turnover among service providers. Could these shortcomings be improved through organizational or system reform?

Based on findings from a decade’s worth of research, Creating Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare provides original reflections on the everyday realities of families and front-line service providers involved with the system. It includes data from a variety of regions and situations, all linked together through a common investigatory framework. The contributors highlight areas of concern in current approaches to child and family welfare, but also propose new solutions that would make the system more welcoming and helpful both for families and for service providers.

Gary Cameron is the Lyle S. Hallman Chair of Child and Family Welfare at the Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University. His current program of research focuses on the lives of families involved in child welfare and children’s mental health services, international comparisons of systems of child and family welfare, and systems of care for children and families involved in residential mental health placements.

Nick Coady has been with the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University since 1994. His teaching and research interests focus on the importance of relationship and other common factors in social work practice. Recent publications include a co-edited textbook on theories for clinical social work and a journal site on good helping relationships in child welfare.

Gerald R. Adams is a professor of family relations and human development at the University of Guelph. He is interested in the study of adolescence to adulthood, and identity development during childhood and adolescence. Recent books include the Blackwell Handbook on Adolescence and the Handbook of Adolescent Behavioral Problems: Evidence-Based Approaches to Prevention and Treatment.

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Marshall Fine is a professor in the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University.

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Sarah Maiter is an associate professor in the School of Social Work in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies at York University.

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Karen M. Frensch was the research project manager for the Partnerships for Children and Families Project in the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University from 2000-2019.

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Nancy Freymond is an associate professor in the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University.

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‘This is an unusual book, to its great credit…. The book listens to and presents the voices of parents and caseworkers to make the child welfare system ‘more welcoming and helpful for both families and service providers.’

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare vol 42:01:2015