Journal of Children's Services: Volume 7 Issue 2

Addressing the challenges of leading children's services in England: leadership in a changing environment

Martin E. Purcell, Margaret Christian, Nick Frost

Following the passage of the Children Act, 2004, the leadership of children's services in England has been unified through the appointment of Directors of Children's Services. The…

From ABA to SPR: 30 years developing evidence based services for the treatment and prevention of conduct disorder in Wales

Judy Hutchings

This paper describes the author's work during 35 years as a clinical psychologist in the NHS in Wales working mainly with conduct disordered children and their families. It…

Cultural adaptation of an evidence‐based parenting programme with elders from South East Asia in the US: co‐producing Families and Schools Together – FAST

Lynn McDonald, Gail Coover, Jen Sandler, Toua Thao, Huda Shalhoub

Without some flexibility, replications of manualised evidence‐based programmes (EBP) may not achieve predictable outcomes due to differences in cultural priorities. In this case…

The education of children in care: a research review

Penelope Welbourne, Caroline Leeson

This paper seeks to explore three key aspects of the education of children in care: the composition of that population of children and the extent to which they differ from the…

Are the people who take part in randomised controlled trials real? A response to Stewart‐Brown et al.

Donald Forrester

This paper's aim is to explore the uses and limitations of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) for evaluating complex interventions, with a particular focus on sample recruitment…

Using the proper tool for the task: RCTs are the gold standard for estimating programme effects – a response to Stewart‐Brown et al.

Gary W. Ritter

The article's purpose is to critique a paper (Stewart‐Brown et al., 2011) in a previous issue of the Journal of Children's Services, which challenges the utility of randomised…

More thoughts on the RCT question: a rejoinder to Forrester and Ritter

Sarah Stewart‐Brown

The paper's purpose is to participate in a debate about the role of randomised controlled trials in evaluation of preventive interventions for children.

Providing a Sure Start: How Government Discovered Early Childhood

Jane Waldfogel

Rippling the water

Michael Little, Nick Axford