There has been growing concern and debate over the impact of social and economic change upon young people and the consequences of this for welfare practice. Within social policy, working with young people has become increasingly important. This book brings together a series of specially commissioned essays which direct attention to both the realities of youth work and the structuring of youth policy. In an area of welfare where the boundaries of responsibility and control are shaped by the competing interest of government, central and local, and a historically powerful voluntary sector, little has actually been written about those who specialise in this area or the structures and policy context in which they operate and from which policies emerge. _Welfare and Youth Work Practice_ is designed to fill a number of long-standing gaps in the literature and thinking about youth work and youth policy.