Managing Children's Homes focuses on leadership, effective management, the allocation of resources, and ensuring positive outcomes for young people in residential care. The book develops an interdisciplinary understanding of what needs to be taken into account when establishing and maintaining good practice on behalf of young people living in children's homes. The authors explain the considerable variation in quality achieved by children's homes and how this relates to management style, working environment and staff structures. The skills and qualities that make effective managers of homes are explored. These, along with factors such as the provision of resources, are investigated to demonstrate how to attain a successful children's home environment and longer-term achievement for looked-after children. Based on innovative, DfES-funded, interdisciplinary research, this book will be essential reading for staff and managers in children's care homes and will also be of interest to students, policy-makers and directors of social services.