This text proposes corrective action to improve the institutional care of African American children and their families, calling attention to the specific needs of this population and the historical, social, and political factors that have shaped its experience within the child welfare system. The authors critique policy and research and suggest culturally targeted program and policy responses for more positive outcomes.

Child labour has long been a major public health concern. Worldwide, an estimated 110 million children aged 5 to 14 years are engaged in hazardous work. This book takes a fresh look at the causes and consequences of child labour using a rights-oriented public health perspective. This perspective means that child labour is not just explored in terms of its impact on the health of individual children. Instead, child labour is considered in terms human rights and the economic, social and health effects on children, their families and the wider community. The book provides a thorough examination of the inter-relationships between economics, education, social values such as gender and religion, legislation and its enforcement, and above all human rights. Key health issues are discussed including hazard exposure, accidents, HIV and the psychosocial effects of child labour. A series of case studies describe the progress, or otherwise, that has been made at national level as well as some of the paradoxes faced by nations and communities trying to address the worst effects of child labour. The authors conclude with a discussion of how a rights-oriented public health perspective can assist in identifying sustainable solutions to child labour. This book will be of use to academics and students involved in health, health policy, social sciences, and development disciplines. Readers involved in international public health policy or working for non-governmental organizations, will also find it an invaluable resource.

How do you ensure that children's voices and ideas are heard and valued in relation to the settings that form part of their everyday lives? Presenting an easy to adopt step-by-step framework, this book argues in favour of children's potential to advocate for themselves, in contrast to the current model in which adults take full control and advocate on the child's behalf. By honouring and harnessing the involvement and contributions of children, social workers and education professionals will be able to improve their daily practice and positively transform key spaces within society to create environments where children experience a sense of belonging and purpose, full of potential benefits for both adults and children. Practical at its core, the book has wide applications, from examining the place of children in legal matters, such as divorce, through to the child's engagement in decisions about their education. International case studies reveal how the model works in practice and encourages children's voices and their participation.

Recent years have seen increasing interest in the needs of children facing bereavement, and a corresponding increase in services to support them. This book addresses and explains the theoretical concepts and practical implications behind the idea of brief work with bereaved children and families. Flexible and accessible short term services delivered at the right time underpin the strengths of bereaved children, supporting their recovery rather than pathologizing the grief process. In this way, the book also speaks to the current interest in the concept of resilience and working with families' strengths and possibilities, rather than merely identifying their problems.
This second edition continues to be a unique book within the growing field of childhood bereavement, and the new chapters added to this edition discuss managing situations with learning disabilities, supporting very young children and emotional literacy. The book also presents cases from the service user's perspective. It looks at different approaches to intervention, such as the importance of assessment and the value of groupwork, and also covers work with children and families before a death.
Brief Interventions with Bereaved Children will appeal to practitioners, educators, and service providers managing scarce resources. The editors have more than twenty-five years experience as practitioners within the field, as service providers and educators. The book features chapters from distinguished contributors with backgrounds in healthcare, educations, social work, and the police, alongside theoretical and practice-based chapters from workers in the field of bereavement care for children.

Rural Child Welfare Practice provides students and practitioners with case studies about rural people as a diverse group, a topic rarely taught. This means that millions of rural people spread across the majority of the land in the United States, Canada, and Australia may not receive culturally-sensitive rural child welfare services. The casebook is drawn from real stories of rural child welfare practice. It displays lessons learned from people working in the services "field" of child welfare, while set within the geographic expanses of the "fields" of rural land. The text has 18 chapters illustrating rural child welfare practice rewards, challenges, strategies, and practice wisdom. All of the stories were drawn from real rural child welfare practice cases. The rural settings include the south, north, east, west, and middle of the United States. There is a Canadian and an Australian chapter. The case vignettes include racial, ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, and rural diversity, with particular attention to working with Native American/American Indians as well as First Nation (Canada) and Aborigine (Australia) people. The book covers a wide range of child welfare services (such as protective services, kinship care, and adoption) and does this from a variety of perspectives. For example, some stories are told by mental health and health services providers with special attention to child and family voice. Generalist practice interventions are detailed. Each chapter provides background information with professional literature, a case vignette, "take away" learning application, summary. In addition, each chapter has discussion questions, learning/teaching activities, recommended resources/readings, and a bibliography. It is likely to be useful for students, professionals, and educators for learning what today's rural child welfare experts say must happen to engage in effective rural child welfare practice with children and families.

A gripping memoir and revelatory investigation into the history of the Foundling Hospital and one girl who grew up in its care - the author's own mother. 'Extraordinary ... A fascinating, moving book: part history of the Foundling Hospital and the development of child psychology, part Cowan's own story, and part that of Cowan's mother' LUCY SCHOLES, TELEGRAPH Growing up in a wealthy enclave outside San Francisco, Justine Cowan's life seems idyllic. But her mother's unpredictable temper drives Justine from home the moment she is old enough to escape. It is only after her mother dies that she finds herself pulling at the threads of a story half-told - her mother's upbringing in London's Foundling Hospital. Haunted by this secret history, Justine travels across the sea and deep into the past to discover the girl her mother once was. Here, with the vividness of a true storyteller, she pieces together her mother's childhood alongside the history of the Foundling Hospital: from its idealistic beginnings in the eighteenth century, how it influenced some of England's greatest creative minds - from Handel to Dickens, its shocking approach to childcare and how it survived the Blitz only to close after the Second World War. This was the environment that shaped a young girl then known as Dorothy Soames, who was left behind by a mother forced by stigma and shame to give up her child; who withstood years of physical and emotional abuse, dreaming of escape as German bombers circled the skies, unaware all along that her own mother was fighting to get her back. 'As a social history of the Foundling Hospital, this is a fascinating read' SUNDAY TIMES 'Page-turning and profoundly moving' VIRGINIA NICHOLSON 'Part-memoir, part-detective story, The Secret Life Of Dorothy Soames will break your heart then piece it back together again ... Simultaneously exploring her mother's story of escape and the history of the Foundling Hospital, this is an unforgettable read' STYLIST 'A gripping true story' Christina Baker Kline, bestselling author of ORPHAN TRAIN 'Breathtaking' Adrienne Brodeur, bestselling author of WILD GAME

Research has already been a significant factor in child welfare policy in recent years, but this essential new volume demonstrates that it has taken a leading role in the field to spur and guide change. In the incisive chapters gathered here, some of the field's top investigators present their work and assess its effect on the full spectrum of child welfare services. Future generations of researchers, as well as students, practitioners, and service providers, will find the resulting text indispensable.
Edited by Duncan Lindsey and Aron Shlonsky, two of the discipline's most articulate voices, the book covers every base. The opening chapters situate child welfare research in the modern context; they are followed by discussions of evidence-based practice in the field, arguably its most pressing concern now. Recent years have seen historic rises in the number of children adopted through public agencies and, accordingly, permanent placement and family ties are critical topics that occupy the book's core, along with chapters broaching the thorny questions that surround decision-making and risk assessment. The urgent need for a more effective use of research and evidence is highlighted again with looks at the future of child protection and how concrete data can influence policy and help children. Finally, in recognition of the growing importance of a global view, closing chapters address international issues in child welfare research, including an examination of policies from abroad and a multinational comparison of the economic challenges facing single mothers and their children.
With its insightful treatment of child welfare services in terms of the broader welfare system andacknowledgment of the myriad problems child welfare agencies face, this exceptional compendium offers a rich understanding of the social conditions that influence contemporary child welfare and enables the field to move ahead without losing sight of valuable lessons that have been learned.

Whether you call yourself a parent advisor, advocate, coordinator, support specialist, liaison, mentor, coach, or another term, this guide provides the essential information you need as a parent helping parents. The book is divided into four parts for easy reference:
Part One: Addresses important skills you will want to hone, such as listening, collaboration, priority setting, and group management.
Part Two describes the mental health system and gives guidance for helping parents obtain appropriate treatment for their child.
Part Three covers working with the school system and the different special education options families should consider.
Part Four explains education laws and how they should be used to ensure children receive all the appropriate services they need.
Specifically designed to assist you in your work with families, this guide includes the following helpful features: -A useful self-assessment to zero in on the key areas where you will want to focus your efforts -Concrete strategies that work-- all based on the wisdom and experience of parent mentors just like you from across the country -Practical, easy-to-read instruction co-written by experts 'in the trenches' and leading university researchers -Tips for parents and important points highlighted throughout the book for quick reference -Self study questions at the end of each chapter to help reinforce what you've learned -A handy appendix with a wealth of current resources for more information on advocacy, training programs, and children's mental health
Helping parents 'take charge' of their children's mental health care is a rewarding job. It is also a challenging one. In your workempowering parents, this guide will become an invaluable resource of the knowledge you require to succeed.

This book provides a conceptual framework for children's rights as well as specific strategies and opportunities for social workers to apply in their work. It guides social work professionals and students through the history of children's rights. It also includes a call for a paradigm shift from a focus on the right to nurturance to the right to self-determination, as well as a contrasting look at children's rights in the West versus the rest of the world.

Ethnic minority youths often face unique challenges in their development. Working with Culture presents a range of culturally responsive psychotherapeutic interventions, illustrated by case examples, for dealing practically with problems such as cross-racial foster care, gang involvement, and substance abuse.

Based on personal accounts by birthing women and their medical attendants, Brought to Bed reveals how childbirth has changed from colonial times to the present. Judith Walzer Leavitt's study focuses on the traditional woman-centered home-birthing practices, their replacement by male doctors, and the movement from the home to the hospital. She explains that childbearing women and their physicians gradually changed birth places because they believed the increased medicalization would make giving birth safer and more comfortable. Ironically, because of infection, infant and maternal mortality did not immediately decline. She concludes that birthing women held considerable power in determining labor and delivery events as long as childbirth remained in the home. The move to the hospital in the twentieth century gave the medical profession the upper hand. Leavitt also discusses recent events in American obstetrics that illustrate how women have attempted to retrieve some of the traditional women-and family-centered aspects of childbirth. This 30th anniversary edition includes a new preface that discusses the writing of the history of childbirth over the past three decades.

This Brief explores the potential effects of parent-child contact during incarceration on child and adult relationships, well-being, and parenting as well as corrections-related issues, such as institutional behavior and recidivism. It presents a literature review on what is currently known about parent-child contact during parental incarceration in addition to several empirical studies, followed by a summary, commentary, and briefing report. The empirical studies focus on contact in both jail and prison settings. Because jails in the United States handle more admissions per year than prisons - and studies of jailed parents and their children are not common in the literature - two of the three studies presented focus on jails. Following the empirical studies, a summary that includes recommendations for policy and intervention is presented, along with a commentary that explores what researchers need to do to make effective policy recommendations. This Brief is an essential resource for policy makers and related professionals, graduate students, and researchers in child and school psychology, family studies, public health, social work, law/criminal justice, and sociology.

This book deals with child abuse and neglect as it presents itself in primary care. All health professionals, including those who work in primary care, have an important role to play in the child protection process. Inappropriate management of suspected instances of child abuse may result in serious implications for the child, family and involved professionals. Primary health care teams have specific and unmet training needs in this area and many general practitioners express anxiety regarding their involvement in child protection work. The overall aim of this book is to enable members of the primary health care team to fulfil their responsibilities in the protection of children from the threat of abuse or neglect. Readers are made aware of the skills required both to protect children and to subsequently maintain relationships with families. The contents have been extended to include child protection issues in our multi-cultural society along with comparison of different systems across Europe. The book is primarily aimed at GPs and their teams; social workers and health care managers will also benefit from its unique treatment of child protection issues in a primary care setting.

'This book addresses these issues with sagacity and imagination. The reader (all primary care team members would benefit from it) is offered facts, skills, attitudes and insights to help in this difficult area. We can all do child protection better - let us use this book to achieve that aim.'

From the foreword by Professor Michael Pringle, Immediate Past Chairman, Council of Royal College of General Practitioners

Neglect is the most common form of child maltreatment in developed countries and it comes in many forms. This is the first book to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to the tasks of planning and intervention faced by professionals in cases of child neglect.
From evaluating the effects of neglect on the child to looking at root causes, this wide-ranging text offers evidence-based, practical guidance to support all practitioners in their work with neglected children. In particular:
- It assesses a range of methods of intervention and how these best apply to the various needs of different families.
- It explores the tensions and dilemmas that practitioners can face when working with neglected children.
- It demonstrates ways that practitioners can work together to promote better outcomes for the child.
- It provides conceptual frameworks, engaging case studies and reflective questions that can assist practitioners in their work.
Written by a leading authority on child neglect, this book is essential reading for those in contact with children and families irrespective of discipline or nation state. It will prove an invaluable resource for practitioners working with families where there are signs of child neglect as well as students studying and academics delivering courses in child welfare.
Jan Horwath is Professor of Child Welfare at the University of Sheffield. She is the author of many books on safeguarding children including "Child Neglect: Identification and Assessment."

There are many stressful factors in modern society affecting young people. Much has been written about adult coping strategies, but relatively little has been written about the developmental aspects and issues surrounding this topic. As well as providing a much-needed theoretical framework, this book evaluates practical applications and programmes, signposts to what works and what does not work. As such, it will be useful to developmental psychologists, social scientists, educators, and those involved in child welfare.

The influx of southern and eastern European immigrants to the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century resulted in a stereotype of Catholics as poor, illiterate laborers. As prejudice against the unwelcome newcomers spread, Irish- and German-American Catholics-many of whom were American-born-felt threatened. Although genuinely concerned about the welfare of fellow Catholics, they feared the loss of their hard-earned economic security and slowly rising social position. By identifying common interests, the women of Chicago's Catholic community found a solution that simultaneously served the needy and cemented the status of the middle class. In More than Neighbors, Deborah A. Skok tells the story of Chicago's Catholic settlement houses and day nurseries and the cross-class alliances they fostered. For poor women, these institutions provided child care, social services, and employment. For white-collar working girls, they offered volunteer opportunities as well as classes on job skills. For upwardly mobile women, they afforded the ability to demonstrate Christian charity and to take leading roles in the political and cultural life of the city. Settlements enabled Catholic women from all social strata to come together for their mutual benefit, despite conflicts over issues of class and ethnicity. By giving equal attention to the religious as well as to the social component of the settlement house movement, Skok illuminates the dynamics of class mobility, ethnic group interaction, and the gendered relations of power. Historians can no longer ignore the significance of Jane Addams' neighbors.

Anxiety can be overwhelming for children with autism. It doesn't need to be. The anxiety levels commonly found in children with autism affect social skills, memory, learning, and attention span-and often lead to meltdowns. Those who live or work with kids on the spectrum are acutely aware of how disruptive anxiety can be. However, we are rarely provided with clear guidance on how to manage this anxiety. This book bridges that gap. Through his twenty-plus years as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Lynch has devoted his career to relieving distress in kids with autism and related disorders. Lynch identifies five factors that are commonly known to elicit anxiety in children with autism and breaks down how to tackle each topic in a manageable and effective way. These factors include: Rigidity Sensory Sensitivities Social Challenges Communication Barriers Task Frustration With this clear and comprehensive guide, parents, teachers, and therapists can take the first crucial step towards managing anxiety, relieving distress, and unlocking potential.

What can be accomplished in an ordinary man who trusts in an extraordinary God? George Mller discovered the endless possibilities!These excerpts from his diary allow Mller to tell his own story. Join him on his journey from a life of sin and rebellion to his glorious conversion. Share his struggles and triumphs as he establishes orphan homes to care for thousands of English children, depending on God's response to his prayer of faith to supply all things. You will learn how to: * pray in faith and receive answers* seek God for direction* find the ultimate purpose for your life* rest in God's loving careGeorge Mller's unwavering, childlike dependence upon his heavenly Father will inspire you to confidently trust the God of the impossible in every area of your life.

1994 is the International Year of the Family, and debates about the rights of the child are once again at the top of the national and international legal and political agenda. Yet in places of armed conflict all over the world tens of thousands of children are recruited to fight in bloody conflicts, and their rights are systematically ignored and abused. In this path-breaking study, Professor Goodwin-Gill and Dr Cohn assess the status of the Child Soldier in international law and highlight the ways in which international humanitarian law fails to provide effective protection, particularly in the internal conflicts which are the most common battlefields today. Based upon empirical data gathered from places of conflict all over the world, the authors examine the consequences for child soldiers, their families and community of their participation in armed conflict. They conclude their study with practical suggestions for preventing recruitment, and call for a more coherent policy of treatment for those children who have participated in acts of violence.

Written from a unique interprofessional perspective, this book is an essential introduction to working with children, young people and families. It covers policy, practice and theory, exploring key themes and developments, including: - poverty and disadvantage - ethical practice - child development - education - child protection - children and young people's rights - doing research. The book introduces students to a range of theoretical perspectives, links the key themes to the existing and emerging policy and practice context and supports students in engaging with and evaluating the central debates. With case studies, reflective questions and sources of further reading, this is an ideal text for students taking courses in childhood studies, working with children, young people and families, interprofessional children's services, early years, youth work and social work.

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.

Child Development for Child Care and Protection Workers is a classic text for students and practitioners in the child care and protection field which summarises important current thinking on child development and applies it directly to practice. The book covers key issues such as resilience and vulnerability and the impact of protective or adverse environments. Different stages of development (infancy, school age and adolescence) are discussed, and attachment theory is used to offer insights into the impact of abuse and neglect on development. A key feature is the inclusion of case studies and activities to allow the reader to improve their understanding and reflect on good practice. This second edition is fully updated to reflect the new policy context and multi-disciplinary practice, and contains updated practice examples to take into account contemporary issues affecting children and young people. This book encourages practitioners to consider each child as an individual with unique circumstances, and links theory and practice in an imaginative and sympathetic way. It will be essential reading for all child care and protection workers.

In 1877, the American Humane Society was formed as the national organization for animal and child protection. Thirty years later, there were 354 anticruelty organizations chartered in the United States, nearly 200 of which were similarly invested in the welfare of both humans and animals. In The Rights of the Defenseless, Susan J. Pearson seeks to understand the institutional, cultural, legal, and political significance of the perceived bond between these two kinds of helpless creatures, and the attempts made to protect them. Unlike many of today's humane organizations, those Pearson follows were delegated police powers to make arrests and bring cases of cruelty to animals and children before local magistrates. Those whom they prosecuted were subject to fines, jail time, and the removal of either animal or child from their possession. Pearson explores the limits of and motivation behind this power and argues that while these reformers claimed nothing more than sympathy with the helpless and a desire to protect their rights, they turned "cruelty" into a social problem, stretched government resources, and expanded the state through private associations. The first book to explore these dual organizations and their storied history, The Rights of the Defenseless will appeal broadly to reform-minded historians and social theorists alike.

The "deadbeat dad" is a common figure in today's news media. As an experienced social worker, family therapist and mediator, Deena Mandell is intimate with legal and institutional discourses on the topic, but also with the lived reality of those involved in support conflict. In "Deadbeat Dads," she addresses the question: "Why hasn't child support enforcement solved the problem of non-payment?"

Non-payment of child support is all-too-easily categorized as an individual act of deviance or moral failing, or as having purely economic ill effects. One consequence of this is to actually reinforce resistance and disengagement on the part of fathers, by causing them to see themselves as victims, whose personal rights are under threat. Thus, in the author's words, "In the discursive struggle between the state's protection of its financial interests?and the fathers' focus on their personal rights, the needs of children literally disappear."

Dr Mandell constructs a complex, nuanced argument around findings from interviews with a small sample of separated fathers, augmented with the perspectives of enforcement personnel such as judges, mediators and lawyers, and with firsthand observation of courtroom discussion. This is a qualitative study that lets informants speak for themselves, but subjects the resulting insights to critical analysis.