Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- List of contributors -- Acknowledgements -- 1. Introduction: What social workers need to know -- An example -- Nothing so helpful as a good theory - Marion Bower -- Freud -- Melanie Klein -- Registering change/making change -- 2. Context: Navigating contested professional identities in difficult times -- Defining social work: why the perennial debate? -- Social work: three broad traditions -- Social work and the era of reform -- The current challenges facing children's and families' social workers -- Conclusion -- Editors' afterword -- References -- PART I: Practice near research -- 3. Difficult conversations on the front line: Observations of home visits to talk about neglect -- Phase 1: Getting inspired -- Phase 2: Reflecting on my own practice -- Phase 3: Observations from a pilot study -- Phase 4: The main study -- Key findings -- Conclusion -- Editors' afterword -- References -- 4. Written on the body -- Introduction -- Direct work - what is the social work experience? -- What they said and how they said it -- Kate -- Summary and comments -- What the social workers were communicating -- What psychodynamic theory or theories might explain these phenomena? -- How does this work? By what mechanism can the internal state of one person be transferred or impact another? -- Link to trauma -- Defended subjects -- What happens to the child? -- The role of the organisation -- Implications for practice -- Work discussion groups -- Social work training -- Conclusion -- Editors' afterword -- Bibliography -- 5. Reflective supervision for child protection practice: Researching beneath the surface -- A clinical approach to supervision -- Containment through supervision -- Case study -- Disappointment and the failure of omnipotence - Anna Harvey -- Conclusion