This book offers intellectual perspectives that will assist British practitioners and academics to think about the impact that the increasingly procedural and legalised climate in which social work has been confined over the past decade has had on their practice and understandings. The richness of the case material the author draws on reaffirms the importance of making the service user central to thought and action in social work. Because of this it raises critical questions about the scope and direction of current debates in Britain, in particular evidence based interventions and the measurement of outcomes. At the same time it has much to offer to current debates on partnership with service users, their families and communities.