The reorganization of children's social services in England

Through a case study of a London borough's children's social services department (CSD), this article highlights themes concerning the reorganization of children's social care provision. Reorganizations have been driven in part by tensions between the desire of social work professionals to maintain their autonomous modes of working, versus an increasingly managerialist outlook of more recent government initiatives. The acceptance and incorporation of managerialist ideals into working practices may be driven by a climate of greater risk aversion, leading to creeping risk management across CSDs.