`I can recommend this text without reservation; it is clearly written, with brief, efficient chapter summaries. It tackles, from predominantly a psychodynamic psychotherapy point of views, the conflicts that can arise when worker and child need space for therapy, but others want to know what is being said' - Clinical Psychology

`The authors provide a thoughtful consideration of work with young people' - Children and Society

`Debbie Daniels and Peter Jenkins approach the complex issue of the rights of children to seek and sustain psychotherapy with skill and sensitivity. They provide a lucid and accurate account of psychoanalytically-orientated counselling and psychotherapy and illustrate how the needs of the child for a place of confidential safety is essential for any child to trust a therapist, and eventually, for the society of `childhood' at large to appreciate the sanctuary provided by this trust.... Daniels and Jenkins' book arrives at a crucial moment in history of the therapeutic treatment of children and adults. It is fair-minded, exceptionally informative, well written, and compelling' - Christopher Bollas - from the Foreword

`This is a thought-provoking book, raising and discussing the important questions that pervade the minefield that is therapy with children. This book is thorough and detailed, referencing many useful and significant legal and official documents by way of answering some of the thorny questions that it raises.... This book should prove beneficial for any adults working with children in need of therapeutic support. It carefully highlights the main legal issues, and equally and importantly, sensitively takes the reader through the process and practice of therapy, and its implications for the psychological well-being of both child client, and the therapist.' - British Journal of Educational Psychology

`The layout of this book allows for selective reading of relevant sections. It is very readable and well presented with excellent summary tables and bulleted lists in shaded boxes.... There is particularly useful material for health professionals, teachers and social workers in relation to consent... This book contributes some excellent material to the debate on children's rights' - Child Abuse and Neglect

`The layout of this book allows for selective reading of relevant sections. It is very readable and well presented, with excellent summary tables and bulleted lists in shaded boxes…. This book contributes some excellent material to the debate on children's rights' - Linda Naylor, Child Abuse Review

`The strengths of this book are that the legal issues of competence and confidentiality are well covered with a clear application to working as a therapist' - Anne Woodhouse, Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Prioritizing the needs of the child as the client and based on an examination of children's rights, this book explores the legal and professional dimensions of working therapeutically with children.

The authors acknowledge the crucial importance of confidentiality in establishing a working alliance and maintaining a secure environment for therapy with children. They explain the legal framework within which practitioners operate and consider the conflicting pressures which therapists face concerning issues of parental involvement and children at risk from abuse or self-harm. With reference to the work of Freud, Klein and Winnicott, the authors show how psychoanalysis radically altered perceptions about childhood and effectively paved the way for the development of a child-focused therapy.