Protecting Children in Time provides a highly original analysis of the origins and development of the taken for granted notion that it is possible through social intervention to protect children from avoidable harm and even death, to protect children in time. By using case studies which span the past 120 years of 'modern' practices and drawing on the work of leading social theorists of modernity and risk society it provides a new way of thinking about constructions of child abuse as a social problem and child protection as a late modern expert system and experience. It proposes new ways of conceptualizing relationships between professionals, children at risk and families and deepens our understanding of what effective interventions have to involve.