Social workers involved in child sexual abuse work have key powers and duties in civil law to protect children. All too often, they bear the brunt of criticism when the system fails. Written for professionals, Managing Child Sexual Abuse Cases examines the complex nature of such cases, and explores the problems encountered by local authority social workers who are required to intervene in families to protect children.

Using material from forty case studies, Brian Corby analyzes the context in which child sexual abuse is managed, and the intervention practices of social workers (and other professionals) within this context. From this, he draws out what policies and practices are effective, and why. He studies the historical background to child protection, and the curious ambivalence of society's attitude to cases of child sexual abuse. While emphasizing the difficulties of providing an adequate intervention system, he argues for greater co-operation between agencies, and recommends greater focus on the provision of more resources for treatment of children and families rather than concentrating on detection, investigation and prosecution of offenders.