In his book, Child welfare in England 1872-1989, Harry Hendrick makes no mention of Barbara Kahan (née Langridge) (Hendrick, 1993). Yet anyone involved in the day-to-day practice of children's services since 1948 knows the name of Barbara Kahan well. Indeed, they probably know it better than that of any other figure in child care. As a local authority practitioner, senior civil servant, writer and campaigner, she was always to the forefront. As there is no other full account of her life, it is timely to record and review her contribution.

Early life

Barbara Langridge was born in Horsted Keynes, Sussex. A family life rooted in the railways – both her grandfather and father were station masters – is not an obvious preparation for a life devoted to professional child care. But it was a family which immersed her in intellectual, religious, social and political stimuli. Her grandfather read constantly to the young Barbara from books ranging from fairy stories to the Pilgrim's progress to the Bible. Ill-health, particularly asthma, prevented her from attending school until she was over six years of age, but by this time she was already an avid reader. Her grandparents and parents alike were fully involved in a Methodist chapel. Barbara was then drawn into a culture in which the belief in and the practice of serving others played a major part. Barbara’s mother was a very intelligent woman who had won a scholarship to a grammar school where she thrived, but when she was 16, her family moved and the scholarship was non-transferable. By way of compensation she devoted much of her life to helping others and was determined, as Barbara put it in an interview with me, “that my brother and myself should have a clear message about how to live” (Kahan, 1999, interview with author). At the age of eight, Barbara was delivering food, which her mother had cooked, to people living in poverty. At that time, her parents were strong supporters of the Labour Party. It was thus instilled into her not only that she personally should help individuals, but also that social improvements could be advanced by political action.