Research
You will find a complete range of our monographs, muti-authored and edited works including peer-reviewed, original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long and short form research and you can browse the complete Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive.
Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical, accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced.
Books: Research
This chapter presents four examples of system change from our research. We show how you can still be hopeful in a contemporary context that can feel anything but. We begin by exploring the importance of valuing small changes and incremental shifts in the context of neoliberal funding environment that calls for ‘transformation’. The chapter focuses on how the methods and approaches detailed in Parts 1 and 2 resulted in changes to systems themselves. We explore four examples including creating physical safety in locations, school assessments to tackle harmful sexual behaviour, changing the culture of how parents and young people are viewed, and system change to tackle systemic and structural harm.
This chapter explores the relationships of the system change leader in research sites and the influence they have on changing local structures and local cultures. We start by exploring what culture is within organisations. We focus on ‘beneath the surface’ activities including building relationships, influencing others and shifting attitudes. We look specifically at cultural attitudes that surround young people and how these attitudes and values are embedded within systems and how they operate; setting the terms of if and how system and culture change can happen. We explore the importance of connecting with young people’s humanness and challenging cultures of victim blaming. The chapter focuses on the way that relationships can be used to create system change by those working in organisations. Finally, the lens of parallel processes is drawn upon to consider the importance of fostering empathy between researchers, social workers and young people.
This chapter examines the current state and prospects of child protection systems in Bolivia, a low- to middle-income country with a 39 per cent child and adolescent population. Despite efforts to provide compulsory and free education, significant disparities persist, particularly in rural areas, compounded by high rates of infant mortality, malnutrition, child labour and violence. Legal frameworks, including the 2014 Child and Adolescent Code, and systems like SIPPROINA have been established to address these issues. However, implementation challenges such as central government dependency, unclear planning, high personnel turnover and conflicts in indigenous territories hinder progress. The response to violence often leads to family separation, with foster care being underdeveloped, resulting in extended residential care stays. This chapter underscores the need for Bolivia to enhance its child protection system through data-driven strategies, cultural sensitivity, child participation and multi-actor collaboration to ensure the safety and well-being of its children and adolescents.
This chapter describes the characteristics of child welfare and child protection systems in Argentina till December 2023, before the libertarian party administration took office. Argentina, the second largest country in South America, has a 28.8 per cent child and adolescent population. It has a universal and free health care system and 99 per cent general population literacy rate. Child welfare and child protection systems have been built following the Convention on the Rights of the Child recommendations. A unique trait of the child protection legal framework allows children to remain within their families, removing the offender/s from the household. The central government and the provincial and municipal administrations are actively involved in and bear the main responsibility for the protection of children’s rights and the provision of resources for the prevention and the intervention when those rights are violated. Relevant facts about the country’s socioeconomic, historical and political background are provided in the chapter.
This chapter studies the child protection system in Morocco. To this end, it examines the various stages in the implementation of this system, including the legislative and regulatory texts, the competent public and private bodies and the necessary means and procedures for its activation. The chapter presents official data on child maltreatment in the country, and insight into the practice of child protection in the country. Finally, a number of observations and proposals have been made for a possible future revision of this system in order to optimise it and adapt it to rapid developments in the field.
This chapter discusses the development of child protection systems within the context of Burundi, a small developing country in the heart of Africa. The country, as a result of war, civil unrest and poverty, has experienced turmoil which has extended into the lives of children with issues like violence and crime at the forefront. The government of Burundi through different relevant ministries acknowledges the plight of children and has put systems in place to protect children. However much more is needed to be done through working hand in hand with social work professionals to support families to take care of their children and through traditional welfare systems like ikibiri (mutual aid) within and outside of the family context.
