Charities and other non-governmental organisations

There are a large number of registered charities and other non-governmental organisations with websites which contain useful information for students of Applied Social Studies. Some of these organisations sponsor research and make their findings freely available via the web.

Addiction

• Alcohol Concern - the national agency on alcohol misuse, campaigning for effective alcohol policy and improved services for those whose lives are affected by alcohol related problems. The website contains news, reports, policy statements, factsheets  and other documents. The site also includes the Alcohol Concern Library Database (a primarily archive resource) containing materials on all aspects of alcohol abuse.
• DrugScope - UK's leading independent centre of expertise on drugs. The site includes a wealth of materials on drug misuse and includes the DrugData library database - a free database containing over 100,000 records of drug literature in the English language.

Crime and criminal justice

• The Howard League for Penal Reform - Oldest penal reform charity in the UK, dedicated to working towards a safer society and community sentences. The site includes details of their campaigns, statistics and press releases on a range of prison related topics. The publications section gives details of a wide range of publications produced by the charity (some available to download for free). It also publishes The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice which you can access through your library by using your UoB username and password.
• Prison Reform Trust - Charity dedicated to prison reform and improving the lives of prisoners and their families. The printed version of Prison Report is available at Polhill Library.

Children and young people

• Barnardos - Charity dedicated to working with vulnerable children. The site has details of Barnardo's projects and their work with children and families in areas such as child poverty, education, sexual abuse, homelessness, domestic violence, disabilities and fostering and adoption. The Resources page has details of hundreds of books and tools (some available to download for free) whilst the Policy & Research Unit brings together the charity's research - some of which is freely available to download.
• National Children's Bureau - a charitable organisation that works as an umbrella for organisations working with children and young people in England and Northern Ireland. It is a major publisher of material on children's services but these are not available for free via the web. It does however, have a free resources section with links to three specialist information services: Children's Play Information Service, the PSHE & Citizenship Information Service and the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Childcare all of which do contain full text resources.
• NSPCC - Charity dedicated to ending child cruelty. It also works to achieve cultural, social and political change - influencing legislation, policy, practice and public attitudes. The Publications page has a wealth of materials produced by the NSPCC, some of which are available to download in full text for free. The Research page has details of research undertaken and commissioned by the NSPCC most of which are available to download in full text for free and gives access to the NSPCC library catalogue containing over 30,000 research reports and journal articles.

Domestic violence

• Refuge - this is a national charity for women and children experiencing domestic violence. The policy & research section includes links to full text reports produced by the charity.

Older people

• Help the Aged - this is an international charity fighting to free older people from poverty, isolation and neglect. The Publications section has a large collection of reports many of which are available to download for free in full text whilst the Research section gives details of research funded by the charity; much of which is available to download for free in full text.

Sexuality

• Stonewall - is a charity for gay, lesbian and bi-sexual people working to achieve equality and justice. The Publications page lists all the charities current publications which are downloadable for free whilst the Research and Policy section contains details of research currently being undertaken with links to full text reports.

Social care

• Joseph Rowntree Fondation - Charity dedicated to working with poverty, inequality, social disadvantage and developing strong, sustainable communities and empowering people and communities. The Publications page contains a huge range of reports produced by the Foundation which are available to download for free in full text.
• SCIE Research Briefings - summaries of research knowledge produced by the Social Care Instutute for Excellence.
• Social Services Research Group (SSRG) - this is a non-profit organisation which provides a network for research in social care and health services. Members are drawn from a wide range of professional groups and organisations with a common interest in the work of the caring services. The site gives free online access to its peer-reviewed journal: Research Policy and Planning which covers research in health, housing, education and social care. The Publications section gives free full text access to many documents from its newsletter, consultations and other documents.