A majority of states used funding from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) in fiscal year 2017 to entirely or mostly support 7 of 10 major state child care activities. Chapters 1 and 2 examine the extent to which states use CCDF funds to support their child care system, the kinds of CCDFarelated activities states engage in that affect children who are not receiving CCDF subsidies, and how states plan to use the increase in CCDF funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. Each year, millions of children age 5 and under receive publicly funded early care and education (ECE) services. Chapter 3 examines the number and characteristics of state ECE programs and the extent to which they share characteristics or overlap with federal or other state programs; and how states fund their ECE programs, including any related benefits and challenges reported by states. Chapter 4 discusses examines the federal investment in early learning and child care programs; fragmentation, overlap, and duplication among early learning and child care programs and agencies' efforts to address these conditions; and the extent to which agencies assess performance for programs with an explicit early learning or child care purpose. The cost of safe, good-quality child care prevents many low and middle-income parents from working, or forces them to work fewer hours, or accept lower wages. The federal government provides direct support to improve child care quality and subsidize child care costs for low- and middle-income families through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). Chapter 5 discusses recent legislation on child care quality and access. Trauma is a widespread, harmful, and costly public health problem, and its effects are especially detrimental to children. Any frightening, dangerous, or violent event that threatens a child or their loved ones can potentially be traumatic. Chapter 6 reviews selected states' efforts to support children affected by trauma. Some international human rights standards allow broad state interventions in families based on the state's conception of the best interest of the child. These states believe it is better to remove a child from its biological parents rather than let the child stay at home. The United States has grappled with where the threshold should be for removal of children from their parents. One major consideration in this balancing of interests should be the potentially lifelong suffering and even abuse faced by children who were removed from their own families, and who remain without permanent families in the foster care system as reported in chapter 7.

Exploring specific experiences, circumstances and events that can put children at risk, this book provides practical guidance for early years practitioners working with vulnerable children. It covers supporting children who are abused and neglected, those with special educational needs, children from ethnic minorities, those with emotional or health difficulties, children affected by poverty and children in care. Each chapter draws on current research and theories to set out clear advice and strategies for supporting the wellbeing and development of vulnerable children, including working in partnership with parents, carers and communities.

This is a book of real life stories of adopters which takes the reader through every stage of the adoption process starting with the moment when they decide that adoption is the right option for them to the stories of adoptees brought up by adoptive parents.

In between, the book looks at all the different types of adoption that are carried out by all sorts of families from all sorts of children of every race and age and with every kind of problem. They range from babies who are only a few days old when they are taken into an adoptive family to teenagers with a multitude of psychological and physical problems. The book looks at both the success and failure of these adoptions.

Its aim is to inform and enlighten professionals, adopters, potential adopters and all those lives have in some way been touched by adoption or want to know more about it.

In 15 chapters it includes more than 70 real life stories which are all told from the heart -- sometimes in a moment of crisis and sometimes at a time of joy. They are not analyzed; they are true stories about how it feels to be at the center of adoption. All the stories, which have been recounted over the past 10 years, are reflective of adoption today in Britain.

The book also includes a chapter on the legal aspects of adoption and a further chapter of useful information and addresses.

This foundational resource is the first to explicitly detail the Child and Youth Care (CYC) core competencies for students preparing to take the Child and Youth Care-Professional (CYC-P) certification exam. Designed according to the Child and Youth Care Certification Board (CYCCB), this book offers a comprehensive review of the five domains of CYC practitioner competencies: professionalism, cultural and human diversity, applied human development, relationship and communication, and developmental practice methods. Pedagogical tools bring concepts to life through critical discussion and reflection. The text is packed with tables, chapter learning outcomes, reflection questions, end-of-chapter reference lists, glossary terms, definitions from the CYCCB, and real world case studies. A unique and practical textbook, this is an indispensable resource for introductory courses in child and youth care programs.

The current volume presents new empirical data on well-being of youth and emerging adults from a global international perspective. Its outstanding features are the focus on vast geographical regions (e.g., Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America), and on strengths and resources for optimal well-being. The international and multidisciplinary contributions address the complexities of young people's life in a variety of cultural settings to explore how key developmental processes such as identity, religiosity and optimism, social networks, and social interaction in families and society at large promote optimal and successful adaptation. The volume draws on core theoretical models of human development to highlight the applicability of these frameworks to culturally diverse youth and emerging adults as well as universalities and cultural specifics in optimal outcomes. With its innovative and cutting-edge approaches to cultural, theoretical and methodological issues, the book offers up-to-date evidence and insights for researchers, practitioners and policy makers in the fields of cross-cultural psychology, developmental science, human development, sociology, and social work.

Public Child Welfare: A Casebook for Learning and Teaching provides social work students and practicing social workers with 20 real-world cases gathered from four California county child welfare agencies. Readers are exposed to the stories of social workers and families involved in child welfare services. The rich and varied content captures the daily complexities, challenges, and successes that social workers experience in the field. Framed within the context of relevant national and state policy and practices, the cases address a variety of child welfare issues including neglect and abuse, substance abuse, domestic violence, criminal justice involvement, mental health, reunification and adoption, and more. Case-based learning relates to family dynamics, initial risks and harms, finding the right home for the child, court proceedings, and the trajectory of these complex cases over time. Public Child Welfare challenges social work students and practitioners to critically examine documented, real-world cases to inform and strengthen their own practices. The casebook is an ideal resource for social work courses, child welfare seminars, and agency-based training programs.

A pivotal textbook in the field, this comprehensive collection is the first of two volumes that cross-examine all active child and youth care sectors across the human services. Co-editors Kiaras Gharabaghi and Grant Charles bring together world-renowned professionals, academics, and researchers to address the past, present, and future state of child and youth care. Guiding students through the exploration of a growing field, this volumes examines practice in a range of service sectors including residential care, foster homes, schools, cyberspace, outdoor adventure settings, and services that support Quebecois, deaf, autism, and LGBTQ+ communities. With a strong foundation in Canadian scholarship, this text also draws connections to child and youth care practice in a global context. International and Canadian students, scholars, and practitioners in child and youth care will benefit from this extensive and timely resource. Features includes contributions from leading Canadian scholars, researchers, and professionals in the field of child and youth care analyzes the challenges, opportunities, and employment prospects in each sector establishes connections between chapters by cross-referencing the sectors, geographical regions, and contexts of other chapters

This book introduces the Relational Learning Framework (RLF), an assessment tool which helps foster care practitioners, social workers and foster carers to examine what foster children have learned in their early life about relationships and particularly through maltreatment. Grounded in attachment theory and drawing on cognitive theory this book will help practitioners to understand and respond to the challenging behaviour presented by these children and remove barriers to an empathic response. Early chapters provide context in a theoretical discourse on the causes and consequences of psychological and attachment difficulties for children in care, including a discussion of maltreatment and foster care. The theoretical basis of the technique will be outlined and subsequent chapters will explain how to undertake RLF including the wide-ranging practice evidence, a worked example, common themes and trouble shooting. This will be an invaluable source for clinical practitioners, social workers, foster care practitioners and foster parents who want to make sense of the complex information about children in foster care to improve their relationships. It will also provide insight into foster children's mental health and behaviour for academics and postgraduate students in related disciplines.

This book discusses child well-being, with children and adolescents as key informants, from a Latin American perspective. It explores theoretical and empirical issues related to well-being and associated aspects, in order to understand the well-being of this population. Topics analyzed in this volume address for instance environment and community, rights, leisure time, technologies, interpersonal relationships and spirituality and their implications for changes in the well-being in children and adolescents. Especially relevant for scholars and professionals in the social and health sciences, as well as policy makers, seeking to promote child well-being, regardless of the area in which they operate.

This book presents evidence that children are the real experts of their lives. 2600 boys and girls in Germany between the ages of 6 of 11 years, with and without a migration background, were interviewed. Next to established topics of family, friends, leisure time and school, the focus of this study was on the topic of justice. Children were asked what justice in their opinion was and whether they felt treated justly or not. The 3rd World Vision Study puts the subjective well-being of children into the focus and shows that children are able to report competently and authentically about their lives. This volume is of great important to researchers, policy makers and professionals interested in children's well-being from children's own perspectives.

This book examines how pathologising ideas of failing, chaotic and dysfunctional families create a powerful consensus that Britain is in the grip of a `parent crisis' and are used to justify increasingly punitive state policies.

A top economist weighs in on one of the most urgent questions of our times: What is the source of inequality and what is the remedy? In Giving Kids a Fair Chance, Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman argues that the accident of birth is the greatest source of inequality in America today. Children born into disadvantage are, by the time they start kindergarten, already at risk of dropping out of school, teen pregnancy, crime, and a lifetime of low-wage work. This is bad for all those born into disadvantage and bad for American society. Current social and education policies directed toward children focus on improving cognition, yet success in life requires more than smarts. Heckman calls for a refocus of social policy toward early childhood interventions designed to enhance both cognitive abilities and such non-cognitive skills as confidence and perseverance. This new focus on preschool intervention would emphasize improving the early environments of disadvantaged children and increasing the quality of parenting while respecting the primacy of the family and America's cultural diversity. Heckman shows that acting early has much greater positive economic and social impact than later interventions-which range from reduced pupil-teacher ratios to adult literacy programs to expenditures on police-that draw the most attention in the public policy debate. At a time when state and local budgets for early interventions are being cut, Heckman issues an urgent call for action and offers some practical steps for how to design and pay for new programs. The debate that follows delves deeply into some of the most fraught questions of our time: the sources of inequality, the role of schools in solving social problems, and how to invest public resources most effectively. Mike Rose, Geoffrey Canada, Charles Murray, Carol Dweck, Annette Lareau, and other prominent experts participate.

The Third Edition of Child Abuse Quick Reference is completely revised and expanded, with new and emerging science for the multidisciplinary response to child abuse. It features updated models for the investigation, diagnosis, and treatment of child abuse as well as three all-new chapters on: nonfatal strangulation in children, pregnancy in sexually abused minors, and prevention of child maltreatment. With this latest edition, Child Abuse Quick Reference remains the most detailed and convenient field guide to child maltreatment-ideal for professionals working directly with abused children. Medical practitioners, social workers, attorneys, law enforcement personnel, and others will find this easy-to-use guide essential to their work on the front lines of prevention and intervention in cases of child maltreatment.

It is common for adoptive families to need support and services after adoption. Postadoption services can help families with a wide range of issues. They are available for everything from learning how to explain adoption to a preschooler, to helping a child who experienced early childhood abuse, to supporting an adopted teens search for identity. Experience with adoptive families has shown that all family members can benefit from some type of postadoption support. Families of children who have experienced trauma, neglect, abuse, out-of-home care, or institutionalisation may require more intensive services. This book serves as a guide to postadoption assistance.

This book presents original research outlining the key elements in responding to parental misuse of drugs and alcohol. * Offers a definition of misuse and addiction and the factors that influence the nature of misuse or addiction * Reviews extensively the nature and impact of parental substance misuse on children and families using the latest evidence * Explores how research and theories might help inform professionals or non-professionals assessing families affected by parents who misuse drugs or alcohol * Provides an in-depth discussion of Motivational Interviewing, including a critical discussion of the challenges and limitations involved in using it in child and family settings * Considers the wider implications of the findings for practice and policy and argues that these responses can be used across the field of work with vulnerable children and their families

"Connecting with children: developing working relationships" focuses on how adults connect with children and develop supportive relationships. It illustrates how good communication and positive and participative relationships can be developed with children across the range of universal and specialist children's services. The contributors draw on theory, research and practice to enable understanding of why good communication and good relationships are crucial for many important contemporary issues involving children including children's rights, bullying, resilience, participation and transitions. This book will be essential reading for students, practitioners and academics who wish to further their knowledge of childhood and children's lives and to further develop good practice with children.

Child welfare services are intended to prevent the abuse or neglect of children; ensure that children have safe, permanent homes; and promote the well-being of children and their families. As the U.S. Constitution has been interpreted, states bear the primary responsibility for ensuring the welfare of children and their families. At the state level, the child welfare "system" consists of public child protection and child welfare workers, private child welfare and social service workers, state and local judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement personnel. These representatives of various state and local entities assume interrelated roles while carrying out child welfare activities, including investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect; providing services to families to ensure children's safety in the home; removing children from their homes when that is necessary for their safety; supervising and administering payments for children placed in foster care; ensuring regular case review and permanency planning for children in foster care; helping children leave foster care to permanent families via reunification with parents or, when that is not possible, via adoption or legal guardianship; offering post-permanency services and supports; and helping older children in foster care, and youth who leave care without placement in a permanent family, to transition successfully to adulthood. This book begins with a review of federal appropriations activity in FY2015 as it relates to child welfare programs, including the effect of the automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration. The book provides a short description of each federal child welfare program, including its purpose and recent funding levels. In addition, funds appropriated for the PSSF program support grants to state or tribal highest courts under the Court Improvement Program; grants to regional partnerships to improve the outcomes of children affected by their Child Welfare: Funding for Services Under Title IV-B of the Social Security Act Congressional Research Service 3 parents' substance abuse; grants to states and territories for monthly caseworker visits of children in foster care; and program-related research, evaluation, training, or technical assistance are also discussed in this book.

This book is the result of an interagency workgroup tasked with developing a strategy to support students and youth with disabilities in reaching their goals of economic empowerment and independence as they transition to adulthood. It focuses on five Federal systems that play key and inter-related roles in preparing youth with disabilities as they transition into adulthood - vocational rehabilitation, social security, juvenile justice, behavioral health, and workforce investment. The book summarizes each system's role, the extent of its use by the population, and central programs and authorizing legislation. In addition, challenges and recommendations for each system are identified, as are common themes and trends across systems. Moreover, the book provides information on the challenges students with disabilities may face accessing federally funded transition services; and the extent to which federal agencies coordinate their transition activities.

Youth with disabilities face several challenges as they transition out of high school. In addition to the social and emotional challenges associated with moving out of the guidance and supervision of supportive staff, teachers and friends in schools, and leaving home to enter the workforce, youth must be prepared and be able to navigate an increasingly complex world to obtain and maintain employment over the long-term. Among the most pressing issues for youth with disabilities are the development of knowledge and skills with regards to financial independence, money management and an understanding of asset development strategies. All too often, youth with disabilities live in poverty and face barriers to stable employment opportunities. In addition, government programs with confusing and conflicting eligibility criteria make accessing needed support services extremely difficult which often leads to unsuccessful transitions from school to post-secondary education, employment and independent living. Young people with disabilities may want to learn how to save money and build assets, but getting a job and saving a portion of their income may cause them to lose their disability benefits and other important support services, like health care. In order to address these concerns, comprehensive financial literacy programs customized to meet the needs of youth with all types of disabilities is paramount and in a diverse society such as ours, educators and policymakers should reexamine various cultures' value systems and recognize the importance of guiding youth/disabilities towards moral decisions on humanistic, rather than purely economic bases. This book explores efficacy and overall adequacy of financial literacy programs for youth with disabilities, and highlights promising practices that have been shown to improve participants' knowledge of money management and asset development strategies. Additionally, it explores the extent to which the "generic" financial literacy curricula and/or educational programs that target nondisabled youth address the needs of youth with disabilities by highlighting gaps in instructional domains and practices in existing programs. Finally, the implications for future research and policies related to financial literacy and employment for youth with disabilities are discussed.

The purpose of this book is to compile and publicize the best current thinking about training and professional development for youth workers. School age youth spend far more of their time outside of school than inside of school. The United States boasts a rich and vibrant ecosystem of Out?of?School Time programs and funders, ranging from grassroots neighborhood centers to national Boys and Girls Clubs. The research community, too, has produced some scientific consensus about defining features of high quality youth development settings and the importance of after?school and informal programs for youth. But we know far less about the people who provide support, guidance, and mentoring to youth in these settings. What do youth workers do? What kinds of training, certification, and job security do they have? Unlike K?12 classroom teaching, a profession with longstanding - if contested - legitimacy and recognition, "youth work" does not call forth familiar imagery or cultural narratives. Ask someone what a youth worker does and they are just as likely to think you are talking about a young person working at her first job as they are to think you mean a young adult who works with youth. This absence of shared archetypes or mental models is matched by a shortage of policies or professional associations that clearly define youth work and assume responsibility for training and preparation. This is a problem because the functions performed by youth workers outside of school are critical for positive youth development, especially in ourcurrent context governed by widening income inequality. The US has seen a decline in social mobility and an increase in income inequality and racial segregation. This places a greater premium on the role of OST programs in supporting access and equity to learning opportunities for children, particularly for those growing up in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. Fortunately, in the past decade there has been an emergence of research and policy arguments about the importance of naming, defining, and attending to the profession of youth work. A report released in 2013 by the DC Children and Youth Investment Corporation suggests employment opportunities for youth workers are growing faster than the national average; and as the workforce increases, so will efforts to professionalize it through specialized training and credentials. Our purpose in this volume is to build on that momentum by bringing together the best scholarship and policy ideas - coming from in and outside of higher education - about conceptions of youth work and optimal types of preparation and professional development.

Children in rural areas face particular risks to their health and well-being. Some risks relate to their demographic characteristics; rural children are more likely to live in poverty than those in urban areas. Some relate to their physical environment; the risks of injury and of death from injury are greater among rural children. Since 2003, the National Survey of Children' Health (NSCH) has presented in-depth National and State-level data on the health and well-being of children in their families and communities. The survey provides a snapshot of children's physical, mental, and developmental health status; access to health care; activities at school, outside of school, and at home; and their safety and security in their neighborhoods and at school. The NSCH, supported and developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau and conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the only nationally-representative survey that considers children's health and well-being within the contexts of the family and community. This book presents indicators of the health and well-being of children, the supportive and risk factors in the family environment, and aspects of the neighborhood that may support or threaten families and children.

Tracy is a very troubled child living in a therapeutic care home in the 1980s. 'Finding Helen' uses an engaging mix of her caseworker's notes, heartfelt poetry which she writes to express her innermost thoughts and feelings, and a narrative of her volatile true-life story. As her case-worker Helen and the other staff attempt to understand the reasons behind Tracy's abusive and self-destructive behaviour, Tracy is torn between her desire to kill those around her and her desperate need to be loved. But as her negative behaviour escalates and the threat of psychiatric care becomes increasingly likely, can one woman's love be enough to save her?