The champions for children who I have described are all aged over 65 or are deceased. The book might, therefore, be dismissed as irrelevant to contemporary child care. On the contrary, the lives of the six children’s champions are worth preserving in print in recognition of the enormous contribution they have made to the well-being of children. In addition, their practices, values, policies and writings have lessons for the present and the future. But the book is not only about them. It also draws on the experiences of those usually regarded just as recipients of services or as residents of deprived areas. They too have much to teach.

A family service

Four of the six child care champions were closely involved with the local authority Children's Departments. Marjory Allen headed up the campaign which brought about their creation. Barbara Kahan was a successful children's officer who pioneered preventative work. John Stroud established that children in care ideally needed contact with their natural families. Clare Winnicott defined child care casework and organised the training of child care officers who specialised in relating to deprived children. Although Children's Departments had many weaknesses, nonetheless, considering that they existed for less than 25 years, their achievements were remarkable.

The Children's Departments were amalgamated into the social services departments (SSDs) in England and Wales and the social work departments (SWDs) in Scotland. Beyond doubt, the new service led to improvements for user groups which were previously neglected, particularly older people. Within the child and family sphere, important improvements have followed regarding juvenile justice and child protection. Certainly the much larger SSDs became equal to other leading local authority services such as Education Departments, possessed increased political influence and, for a while, won large increases in budgets. But there is a strongly held viewpoint – one with which I agree – that child care standards have declined. Barbara Kahan has long identified this decline. Professor Roy Parker has written, “There is clearly a need for social workers to acquire more skill in direct work with children…. This has to be remedied if children's views are to be elicited; if they are to understand their past and present situations; and if they are to be encouraged to fulfil their potential” (Parker, 1999, p 112).