Family troubles?

Dr Jane Ribbens McCarthy is Reader in Family Studies, in the Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance (CCIG) at the Open University. Her research interests and publications focus on families and relationships, particularly children and young people's family lives, including their experiences of bereavement and loss. Dr Carol-Ann Hooper is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of York. She has worked in the overlapping fields of child protection and family support, gender and crime, and violence against women, for over 20 years. Val Gillies is Research Professor in Social and Policy Studies at the Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research, London South Bank University. Her research interests focus on family, parenting, social class, and marginalised children and young people, and she has published extensively in journals on these topics.