Presents insights from a range of disciplines, including law, sociology, criminology and history, to identify and explain the complex and inter-related factors which help or hinder the state to 'invest' in children and young people.

This book brings together insights from a range of disciplines, including law, sociology, criminology and history, to identify and explain the complex and inter-related factors which help or hinder the state to 'invest' in children and young people.
The first part of the book examines the 'intangibles' - the ideologies, social constructions and moral precepts - which obstruct or encourage the passage and full implementation of legislation, policy and practice which hopes to improve the lives and prospects of children and young people. Notions of family and parental responsibility,...