Child Welfare AND Stigma

This article draws on an empirical study of stigma and child welfare in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain; it shows how stigma continues to be a part of the experience of using and delivering child welfare services, despite the positive determination of policies in all three countries that this should not be so. More optimistically, however, it is also evident that the experience of stigma and exclusion can be reduced, and the article concludes by outlining those factors which would appear to be most significant in combatting stigma.