The Handbook of Children's Rights: Comparative Policy and Practice is the first comprehensive and radical appraisal of development in children's rights in British and international settings. It brings together contributions from academics, social welfare practitioners, educationalists, child psychologists and politicians. This clearly structured and engaging book examines children's claims for rights in the social, welfare, judicial, educational and other settings. The various chapters consider the divergent responses of governments, the voluntary sector and other agencies to young people's rights claims by exploring and assessing the range of policy proposals designed to meet them. The book has four broad objectives: * to explore the various strands to the debate concerning children's rights and review developments in rights provision across the 1980's and 1990's; * to evaluate the impact of recent British legislation on children's rights in key areas such as education, social services, criminal justice and the UN Convention on The Rights Of The Child; to examine recent policy proposals and initiatives in the British setting intended to secure rights for children and young people; * and finally, to offer a comparative perspective on children's rights by examining issues and developments in a number of countries including America, Scandinavia, Australia and Russia. The Handbook of Children's Rights will be invaluable to students of education, social work, social policy, sociology, youth and community work, law, politics, philosophy and policy studies as well as those studying postgraduate courses in social work, juvenile justice and education.