This book discusses how to identify those children who are at hazard of becoming less than they might be as adults. It explores critical policy issues in broadening access to health care services and reassessing results of major intervention efforts for improving life chances of vulnerable children.

Combining theoretical, empirical, and clinical knowledge, Stepfamilies: A Multi-Dimensional Perspective contains recent research and information that will help mental health practitioners, family therapists, psychologists, and counselors understand the characteristics, dynamics, needs, and issues of nonclinical stepfamilies. Based on direct experiences with diverse types of stepfamilies, this book gives you new guidelines and strategies that will enable you to offer more successful sessions to your clients and improve your effectiveness as a practitioner. Developed to give you a more realistic understanding of stepfamilies, this text helps you avoid the stereotypes and false perceptions that often surround stepfamilies. Offering methods and strategies aimed at making your clients feel comfortable about themselves and their situations, Stepfamilies: A Multi-Dimensional Perspective examines several aspects of these families that you need to know in order to improve your effectiveness with them, including: the definition and description of stepfamilies and recognizing historical and social changes in the stepfamily structure critical reviews on the present knowledge of stepfamilies describing the complexity of family structure, the ambiguity of boundaries and roles, and the struggle with the diverse phases of the life cycle discussing key issues for stepfamilies, such as past orientation and acceptance/rejection of differences from non-stepfamilies and focal subsystems the profile, characteristics, and case studies of an innovative typology of stepfamilies that includes integrated families, invented families, and imported families aspects of ethnically and culturally different stepfamilies, including American stepfamilies, Israeli stepfamilies, and immigrant stepfamilies from the former Soviet Union social perceptions and attitudes of stepfamilies in schools, social services, community organizations, the media, and with the lawOffering case studies and data on a variety of families and situations, Stepfamilies: A Multi-Dimensional Perspective will show you that all stepfamilies are not the same and cannot be helped by just one practice method. Complete with principles and instruments to assess patients and the success of sessions, Stepfamilies: A Multi-Dimensional Perspective works to promote an understanding of stepfamilies that will result in effective and positive therapy for your clients.

Serving African American Children was initiated to present an African American perspective on child welfare issues affecting African American children. The chapters in this volume challenge the child welfare community to ensure that all African American children receive protection, nurturing, and an improved quality of life; to create and sustain mutual communication and support through program development; to ensure that African American consultants are involved in the evaluation of agencies where African American populations represent a significant proportion of the service population; and to increase African American leadership through education and training opportunities in preparation for executive level positions.

Major chapters and contributors to Serving African American Children include: "Family Preservation and Support Services: A Missed Opportunity for Kinship Care" by Julia Danzy and Sondra M. Jackson; "Achieving Same-Race Adoptive Placements for African American Children" by Ruth G. McRoy, Zena Oglesby, and Helen Grape; "African American Families and HIV/AIDS: Caring for Surviving Children" by Alma J. Carten and Ilene Fennoy; "A Rite of Passage Approach Designed to Preserve the Families of Substance-Abusing African American Women" by Vanesta L. Poitier, Makini Niliwaambieni, and Cyprian Lamar Rowe; and "An Afrocentric Program for African American Males in the Juvenile Justice System" by Aminifu R. Harvey and Antoinette A. Coleman.

The chapters reflect a variety of policy, research, and practice issues; clinical techniques and treatment models; and new perspectives in child welfare. The theme that runs throughout each chapter is the grave concern about the overrepresentation of African American children and families in the child welfare system, and about the limited--if not missing--influence of the African American perspective on policy and practice. Serving African American Children is a book of vital importance and should be read by all social workers, sociologists, African American studies specialists, and professionals in the field of child welfare.

This disturbing volume probes beneath the rhetoric about system change in the transition societies of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to examine the impact of political, social, and economic dislocation, ethnic conflict and civil war on the most population: children.

This disturbing volume probes beneath the rhetoric about system change in the transition societies of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to examine the impact of political, social, and economic dislocation, ethnic conflict and civil war on the most population: children.

Designed as a guide for trainers and academic staff as well as for practitioners working with the most disturbed children and young people, this book seeks to explore the connections between the challenges of practice and of learning. The book introduces the matching principle - the principle that, in order to be successful, training for any field of practice should match or reflect key aspects of that practice in terms of personal and professional experience as well as academic content.

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The idea that Britain, the US and other western societies are witnessing the rise of an underclass of people at the bottom of the social heap, structurally and culturally distinct from traditional patterns of "decent" working-class life, has become increasingly popular in the 1990s. Anti-work, anti-social, and welfare dependent cultures are said to typify this new "dangerous class" and "dangerous youth" are taken as the prime subjects of underclass theories. Debates about the family and single-parenthood, about crime and about unemployment and welfare reforms have all become embroiled in underclass theories which, whilst highly controversial, have had remarkable influence on the politics and policies of governments in Britain and the US. This text addresses the underclass idea in relation to contemporary youth. It focuses upon unemployment, training, the labour market, crime, homelessness, and parenting. It should be of interest to students of social policy, sociology and criminology.

This title was first published in 2002: In recent years there has been a trend among young people across Europe towards remaining longer in their parental homes. Many reasons have been suggested for this change in demographic patterns, but Teresa Jurado Guerrero's study of France and Spain represents the first in-depth cross-national analysis of this important social and economic issue. The book provides systematic comparisons of living arrangements at cross-national, cross-regional and individual levels and examines the results of two large-scale national surveys. It investigates the relevance of young people's employment situations, social policies related to youth, national and regional housing markets and family norms, and identifies policy measures which would encourage early home-leaving and family formation. The book exposes the existence and effects of different national and individual strategies surrounding the process of becoming socially independent, and offers unique insights into an issue of key relevance for parents, young people, researchers and policy makers.

The Peper Harow residential community was founded in 1970 and gained international repute for its pioneering work with disturbed adolescents. For over 20 years, this remarkable establishment provided a therapeutic environment for teenagers who had often suffered appalling abuse, and yet for whom the state's only remedial provision until then had been in the punitive form of the approved schools. In Transforming Hate to Love Melvyn Rose, the community's founder, assesses Peper Harow's success in managing disturbed behaviour, and offers views on areas where the establishment could have responded more effectively to the needs of its residents. His study is complemented by the testimony of ex-residents helped by Peper Harow to overcome their fears and abandon their disruptive behaviour. The overwhelmingly positive outcome indicates the need for a review of current social policy towards deviant youth and shows how society as a whole would benefit from a psychodynamic view of the causes of criminality and mental ill-health among the young.

This title was first published in 2000: This text provides international perspectives on examples of best practice in child welfare and proposes organizational structures and policies to support this practice. Practice innovations span the range of child welfare services, including prevention, protection and out-of-family care. The contributors describe the child welfare context in each of their particular jurisdictions, producing an addition to the literature comparing child welfare in different countries. Moreover, existing books on the subject are primarily descriptive and examine overall child welfare legislation and policy. The work adopts an analytical approach, proposing policies and focusing on the largely unexamined topic of excellence in child welfare practice.

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Sexual, Physical, and Emotional Abuse in Out-of-Home Care brings into the open current or past sexually, physically, or emotionally abusive behaviors between children or between children and their caregivers in out-of-home care and helps prevent future victimization. The curriculum gives you 20 exercises that promote respectful and nurturing interactions among caregivers and children by offering healthy concepts of touching, communication, and boundaries. By implementing the concepts in this curriculum, you'll help create positive, healthy attachments for children in out-of-home care who may feel abandoned and alone. Exercises in Sexual, Physical, and Emotional Abuse in Out-of-Home Care assist children and caregivers in understanding their rights and others'rights in residential treatment centers and group or foster homes. Exercises focus on: communication on a continuum--teaches children and staff about their own communication and the communications they receive from others a touch continuum--provides an excellent vehicle for discussing the comforting and soothing touch children need and how to differentiate this from eight other types of touch differentiating sexual play from problematic sexual contact between children--helps children and staff talk about sex personal space and boundaries--discusses these as areas of major violations in children who have been abused sexual knowledge--teaches the body parts and their functions discovering what a sex offender does to trick children into situations that end up in sexual abuse--asks the children to make rules that assist other children to recognize unsafe situations, and then gives them the opportunity to create a video, pamphlet, advertisement, or commercial to tell other kids these rulesThis curriculum is unique because it can be completed through children and adults talking together. It assumes that there will be difficulties and conflicts between staff and children and among children themselves and provides a forum in which to raise and discuss these issues. You'll find the curriculum perfect for caregiver training or as exercises caregivers and children do together. You'll also find it very useful for working with children's families either in family sessions or in multifamily groups.

In recent years child protection issues have dominated media and public discourse in the UK. This book offers a unique perspective by giving voice to those social workers working within a profession which has become increasingly embedded in a culture of blame. Exploring how statutory child protection agencies function, Leigh also reveals how 'organisational culture' can significantly affect the way in which social work is practised. Providing a comparative analysis between the UK and Belgium, Leigh uses ethnography to illuminate the differences between the settings by examining how interactions and affected atmospheres impact on their identities. This book reveals how practitioners perceive themselves differently in such environments and explores the impact this has on their identity as well as the work they carry out with children and families. Leigh's enquiry and compelling critique into social work, identity and organisations calls for mutual understanding and respect, rather than a culture of blame.

Child protection and family support is a major social issue and there is a continuing debate about how policies and practices in relation to child protection integrate with those in family support and child welfare more generally. Prompted in part by the Audit Commission and the publication of the Department of Health Research studies in child protection, it is the key issue facing all child welfare agencies. While it is agreed that there needs to be a "rebalancing" between child protection and family support there is concern amongst managers and practitioners if things go wrong, subjecting them to public inquiry and media contempt. This text brings together a range of researchers and commentators to analyze the nature of the issue and possible ways forward. It draws on recent research case studies; policy makers, managers and practitioners in social work and child welfare agencies.

First published in 1997. This book represents an analysis of Japanese preschools as organizations, as administrative frameworks. This volume tackles this set of themes by examining one such institution: Katsura Hoikuen (Day-Care Center). Based on fieldwork carried out in the summer of 1988, and for a short period in October 1994, my perspective is basically ethnographic in its approach.

First Published in 1996. Research on childhood is a growing area of interest in social policy. Covering both familial and institutional settings, this book explores relevant issues, including the female workforce and changing family forms.

First Published in 1996. Research on childhood is a growing area of interest in social policy. Covering both familial and institutional settings, this book explores relevant issues, including the female workforce and changing family forms.

However smart they are, from a social perspective children do not really count until maturity. Then all of a sudden society expects responsibility, independence and in particular, commitment. This viewpoint, shared by so many children and young people today, is the basis of much disaffection among youth. This miscalculation, and how to combat it, is the major theme of this book. The social qualities expected of young people do not come to them automatically. Children need to be guided through social experiences to develop responsibility and commitment. The most effective way to inculcate these qualities is to involve children through their active participation in their education and welfare. The book reviews the theoretical framework for participation by children and young people, and discusses fields of practice where participation is of great importance - including local youth policy, education and professional youth care. Micha de Winter is a professor of child care and in this book he draws on his many years of experience to produce a work which is authoritative, inspiring and convincing. Children as Fellow Citizens is essential reading for those involved in youth and social policy, educators and social scientists, as well as social service and health care professionals.

Designed for use with children in grades K-6, this book provides a review of support groups: their nature and value; the tripartite model of children's needs, behaviours they need to learn and environmental conditions that support learning; the Keystone Learning Model, which encompasses the tripartite model, strengths and decision-making; and "nuts and bolts" suggestions for creating and managing child support groups. The book also addresses various support groups chapter by chapter and homework ideas are provided with each chapter.

The aim of this book is to provide illustrations of ways in which psychoanalytic ideas can be adapted and used in a wide variety of community settings - including social services, schools and hospitals - to help children and families who are emotionally disturbed or who have been physically or sexually abused. It is a book for professionals who are interested in using psychoanalytic ideas in their own work settings, and assumes no previous knowledge of these ideas on the part of the reader. It provides basic principles, many practical examples, further reading, and information about where to get support and consultation.

This collection provides a guide to the legal requirements surrounding children's rights. The book discusses the practicalities and problems of listening to the child in educational, social and health settings.

The traditional notion of the well meaning but ignorant parent who hands over her problem child to the professional expert to wave a trained magic wand and produce a cure, has recently come in for much criticizm. It is now recognised that parents' intimate and special knowledge of their children is an important and useful aid to the treatment of children with a wide range of disorders. Many professionals working with special needs acknowledge this but find it hard to make the changes in attitude and practice necessary to make a partnership with parents actually happen. Naomi Dale's guidelines aim to help professionals at all levels of development to adapt and enhance their methods to the needs of current legislation and contemporary best practice. Many different aspects of working in partnership with parents are presented and the book contains exercises that can either be worked through by the individual, or be used in in-service development courses. The book should be helpful to all professionals involved with special needs, especially educational psychologists, clinical/child psychologists, social workers, preschool/home counsellors and health visitors.

This new updated and expanded edition challenges many widely held views on the links between poverty and child health. It brings together new evidence, both historical and current, and considers the practical implications for health and social policy, outlining innovative approaches to future development. Poverty and Child Health is vital reading for paediatricians and child health workers, doctors and health service managers, social service professionals, social scientists and everyone with an interest in shaping health and social policy.