Hello and welcome to the August edition of the Children Magazine. The webmag editorial discusses procedures and systems employed in social work which sometimes get in the way of the human touch. Keith White in his regular column, graphically describes the unbelievable way in which the systems have failed a particular child - (unbelievable, unless perhaps you are intimately involved with the care system.)

Gus Greene's Bluebrick Children's home has a major problem when a member of staff is accused of sexual assault - Terry Hoon asks "Who is to blame?" following the riots in Brixton and some northern towns - and Kathleen Lane lightens things up considerably in her inimitable style with a description of the first part of her trip to Milwaukee, including a bomb, bodies in the freezer and ... butter for the sweetcorn??

There is also a description of the QOL System to create, monitor and record all aspects of residential and day care provision in the social care and education sectors. In the FICE pages (get to them from the News pages), there is a full transcript of the Code of Practice for International Placements.

In Children International, Dr Emmanuel Grupper gives a moving tribute to Meir Gottesmann and the editorial looks at Ideas and People - the gap left when someone retires or dies.

The final Social Education Trust report "Social Pedagogy and Social Education" is published with an introduction by Phillip Warrilow. There is a report of El Raval, a range of day services for children and young people provided in the centre of Barcelona.

Quite a range this month - to finish, if you would like to smile, don't miss the "Actual Excuse Notes" in the Bits and Pieces columns, accessible from the Webmag.

Thanks for reading.