The supply of funding for children's service provision is limited, and to make the best use of available resources, services must be run efficiently and cost-effectively whilst achieving the central objective of children's well-being. Co-published with the DfES, this book presents the findings of a set of original research studies and reports on the way that care services for children are delivered, the cost of providing services and the extent to which they improve outcomes for children. It looks at services provided by the statutory, for profit and voluntary sectors and examines how resources are distributed and why; what evidence there is of the effectiveness of the different services; and what changes can and should be made to improve efficiency. From the research findings, Jennifer Beecham and Ian Sinclair draw key messages for practice, both on how best to use resources to support children and on how research in this area should be carried out in the future.