Exploiting Childhood: How Fast Food, Material Obsession and Porn Culture are Creating New Forms of Child Abuse

The protection of children today is as challenging as ever, as changes in society and the way we live our lives lead to new forms of exploitation and abuse. This book scrutinises emerging threats to the well-being of children, gathering together incisive critiques from leading experts from a range of disciplines, including Susie Orbach on the commercial exploitation of children's bodies, Oliver James on the impact of hyper commercialism, Gail Dines on the insidious effects of pornography and Charlie Powell on the crisis of young people's dietary health. It examines how these challenges affect the development of children and considers the implications for those working in child protection. The book concludes by describing a series of creative initiatives designed to help children and young people to flourish. Hard-hitting and relevant, this book should be required reading for child protection workers and anyone concerned with child welfare.

Camila Batmanghelidjh trained as a psychotherapist and for more than twenty years has worked with exceptionally disturbed children and young people in the two charities she has founded, The Place2Be and Kids Company. Focusing on the inner city, these have concentrated on giving vulnerable children greater resilience in the face of traumatic life experiences. Kids Company has been the subject of several documentaries, and in 2005 Camila was named Social Entrepreneur of the Year. She is also UK Woman of the Year 2006.