Improving Services to Black and Ethnic Minority Children and Their Families: Four Demonstration Projects ander Quality Protects (Understanding Children's Social Care)

In July 2000, the Department of Health/Social Services Inspectorate document Excellence Not Excuses revealed that the majority of UK local authorities had not put strategies in place to deliver appropriate services to ethnic minorities. In response, the Department set up four demonstration projects under its Quality Protects program to develop models of best practice to improve life chances of Black and ethnic minority children and their families.

In autumn 2000, the Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU) were invited to undertake a descriptive study of the four demonstration projects. The resulting study serves as a learning tool for future work in the area of meeting the needs of and developing ethnically-sensitive services for Black and ethnic minority children looked after by local authorities.

Case studies of the individual projects describe individual projects’ working arrangements, the definitions and issues they grappled with, the work undertaken and the process of how this was done, an overview and an outlook. In conclusion, issues of structure, process, and resourcing of the projects are discussed, and implications for policy and practice are raised.