Government, social services departments and the health of children and young people: Which way forward?

Despite the dearth of research into the health of children and young people in contact with or 'looked after' by local authorities, a series of official and quasi-official reports have begun to raise awareness of this issue. There are good reasons to believe that this group of children will be disadvantaged in terms of health as they are in other aspects of their lives. The evidence suggests that local authorities do not live up to the standards of 'good parents'. Current notions of good practice are critically appraised and the article concludes that social work is unable to do more than mitigate the effects of Government policies which affect health and social services and which have lead to widening social inequalities.