This paper, based on material previously presented at the ACWA Biennial Conference in Sydney, describes the design, development and implementation of the ‘Looking After Children’ practice and management materials in the UK. The paper traces the research and practice background to the trialing of these out-of-home care assessment and planning materials in the UK, where they are expected to be adopted and implemented by all statutory agencies by the end of 1998. The international interest in the Assessment and Action Record is supported by an exploration of the arguments for child-focussed assessment and planning for ‘placement as a process – not an event’. Finally there is coverage of the three recently completed pilot projects in Western Australia. An argument is made for the adoption and adaptation of these materials as potential practice standards for the ‘State as parent’.

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We experimentally verify the anomalous phase behavior in metamaterial structures with birefringent materials predicted by Mandatori, et. al. using form birefringent structures. Large birefringence as much as Deltan/n = 0.7 has been achieved by surface-treated form birefringent discs, making compact single layer Mandatori structures viable. With a reduced model of a single layer birefringent structure, the relationship between design parameters (thickness and orientation angle) and device operation and performance parameters (such as the center operation frequency, bandwidth, effective negative index, negative group index of refraction, and the transmission throughput) are derived and verified experimentally. Tunable group index of refraction from strong slow light of ng = 29.6 to fast light of ng = -1.1 are measured experimentally.