Children are in need of support not due to any fault on their part but due to their circumstances. Local authorities have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and provide services to those 'in need'.

Children in Need is a comprehensive and accessible handbook that sets out the statutory obligations of local authorities to support vulnerable children and families, including children in, and leaving, custody, disabled children, migrant children and families, trafficked children and children leaving care.

Taking a rights-based approach, it analyses domestic and international law and sets out the entitlements to services and support that are all too often denied. Uniquely focused on the often-neglected Part 3 of the Children Act 1989, Children in Need combines authoritative guidance on the law with practical advice from a team who routinely act for children and their families in the court.

Children in Need is up to date to include:

* detailed coverage of the new guidance, Working together to safeguard children (2013) and its impact
* analysis of recent key cases, including R(KO) v Lambeth LBC and R(VC) v Newcastle City Council
* Case-law developments in respect of duties to migrant children and their families, following the judgment in Clue
* details of the new National Standards for Youth Justice Services (2013)

Children in Need is essential reading for claimant lawyers, advocates, voluntary and statutory sector advisers, local authority lawyers and frontline staff, social workers and academics. It is intended to assist all those who work with and for children 'in need' and their families to understand and apply the law to the benefit of vulnerable children.