A Storm in a Tea-Cup? 'Making a Difference' in Two Sure Start Children's Centres

Sure Start Children's Centres were central to the last UK Labour government in improving outcomes for children and families. Yet, participation by those who 'ought' to attend was and remains a focus of concern. Using the work of Foucault, this paper explores parental participation in two Centres to examine how 'government operates at a distance', through the everyday interactions of those who inhabit these spaces. In exploring micro-practices, the humble cup of tea can be seen, not only as a small act of caring but a site of power and struggle over what these spaces meant to parents and practitioners

From ‘public health’ to ‘safeguarding children’ : British health visiting in policy, practice and research

This study examines the location of British health visiting in contemporary policy discourses concerned with public health and safeguarding children. It argues that professional identity and orientation can be understood through health visiting’s long history of public health work with children and families, which has included an engagement with protecting children. The expansive safeguarding children agenda, which includes the requirement to undertake a progressive universal approach to service provision and which incorporates a broad concept of risk and requires early intervention, has created tensions, particularly given current workforce constraints. The location and visibility of British health visiting in the academic and practice worlds also shape how the profession is understoo

Policy and practice tensions in tackling alcohol abuse and violence in probation settings

This article explores recent policy development and resulting tensions that emerge in a neo-liberal climate of widespread availability and use of alcohol and a parallel move towards the marketization of offender management. We argue that these trends threaten the quality of treatment and supervision offered to those whose alcohol use is linked to their violent offending and unduly criminalizes those behaving disorderly as a result of their drinking in the context of ever more coercive frameworks

Molecular cloning and functional characterization of a cDNA encoding nucleosome assembly protein 1 (NAP-1) from soybean

NAP-1, a protein first isolated from mammalian cells, can introduce supercoils into relaxed circular DNA in the presence of purified core histones. Based on its in vitro activity, it has been suggested that NAP-1 may be involved in nucleosome assembly in vivo. We isolated a cDNA clone encoding a soybean NAP-I homolog, SNAP-1. The SNAP-1 cDNA contains an open reading frame of 358 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular weight of 41kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence of SNAP-1 shares sequence similarity with yeast NAP-1 (38%) and human hNRP (32%). Notable features of the deduced sequence are two extended acidic regions thought to be involved in histone binding. SNAP-1 expressed in Escherichia coli induces supercoiling in relaxed circular DNA, suggesting that SNAP-I may have nucleosome assembly activity. The specific activity of SNAP-1 is comparable to that of HeLa NAP-1 in an in vitro assay. Western analysis reveals that SNAP-I is expressed in the immature and young tissues that were examined, while mature tissues such as old leaves and roots, show very little or no expression. NAP-1 homologs also appear to be present in other plant species.close181

Predicting child abuse and neglect:ethical, theoretical and methodological challenges

Aims. This paper explores the ethical, theoretical and methodological implications of predictive testing in studies of child abuse, neglect and harm. Background. The use of screening instruments to make predictions about children who may later be abused, neglected or at risk of exclusion is promoted in research and policy. The recent UK Action Plan on Social Exclusion suggests that health visitors and community midwives should be trained to use these tools in practice. Method. Position paper. Conclusions. The accuracy of screening instruments to identify children who will be abused or neglected has not been established. Even if the theoretical and methodological challenges of predictive instruments could be overcome, the ethical implications of their use are very difficult for nurses and midwives. Relevance to clinical pratice. Nurses, midwives and health visitors require high levels of awareness of risk factors in working with children and families. We have a responsibility to reach professional judgements about risks of harm for individuals. This is best performed through improving skills in working with parents and carers to identify those factors which may impede their ability to offer safe developmental care to their children