In this paper we apply the lens of moral panic to analyse child protection social work in the UK. We suggest that many of the anxieties that beset social work are best understood as moral panics and discuss processes in which ‘claims-makers’ have introduced and amplified concerns into panics. We discuss two examples of anxieties over child endangerment: the first is concerned with the foundation of the NSPCC and its campaign for the Children’s Charter of 1889. The second is the contemporary 21st century anxiety over children and young people’s use of the Internet, exemplified in the activities of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and their ‘Children and Young Persons’ Global Online Charter’.

This paper presents a study of the ways in which fathers have been, and are, depicted in social work literature from theory to training materials and across a range of policy and practice documents. It argues that there is a pervasive and influential negative attitude towards fathers, particularly in the children and families field. The paper identifies and discusses the reasons for this and concludes with practice pointers for the greater involvement of fathers.

This article explores the ways in which the highly emotive subject of child trafficking has been, and currently is, presented in the UK. It does so by examining the way the issue has been tackled at two moments in time: the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century. We argue that, although the trafficking of children is clearly both undesirable and unacceptable, the reaction to this issue in the UK has been out of proportion to the problem itself. The reaction, we propose, is best understood as a moral panic that must be interrogated if we are to offer a helpful response to what is a serious social problem. A sense of historical perspective is, we believe, helpful in this regard.

This paper reports on findings from a practice audit and literature review into Integration of Learning for Practice, conducted in Scotland between November 2003 and February 2004. Findings from the practice audit suggest that although the integration of learning is one of the key aspirations of social work education, and there are many different approaches currently in use which attempt to enhance learning integration, students, practitioners, service users and social work lecturers all agree that more needs to be done in this area. The review of literature indicates some ways in which this might be taken forward. The paper concludes that for integration of learning for practice to succeed, we need a re‐imagining of the traditional boundaries between field and classroom, and practice teacher and social work academic.

This paper brings sociological theory on moral panics to a discussion of child protection social work in the UK. We begin by considering the extent to which policy and practice may be susceptible to distortion by ‘claims-making’, the influence of which, we will argue, casts a rarely explored and less understood influence on the service's practice and direction. We conclude that claims-making has had a detrimental effect on child protection, contributing to a coarsening of attitudes towards families in child protection work, a retreat from preventative practice and a deterioration in relationships between social workers, service users and members of the public more generally.

In the light of increased attention to the role of social work in UK adoption practices, this article takes a ‘turn to language’ and examines the neglected field of the words and phrases commonly used in the adoption process. It subjects these to a critical scrutiny and suggests that the vocabulary employed contains inaccuracies, euphemisms, misnomers and aspirational promises and carries implications that limit options and determine outcomes. The article provides other examples from social work practice with children and families and concludes that a critical approach to a profession’s everyday language use can uncover how power is exercised.