Parenting: What Really Counts? examines the scientific evidence on what really matters for children's healthy psychological development.
The first section considers whether it is necessary to have two parents, a father present, parents who have a genetic link with their child, or parents who are heterosexual. Section two explores the psychological processes that underlie optimal development for children, particularly the quality of the child's relationship with parents, other family members and the wider social world. Contrary to common assumptions, Susan Golombok concludes that family structure makes little difference to children's day-to-day experiences of life.

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This book celebrates good practice in the area of early years and special needs by bringing together authors who are either practitioners or researchers, from a range of different and diverse early years settings including nurseries and units providing special provision. They describe their work with young children who have different and distinctive special needs and disabilities.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203134427

Children bereaved by the death of one parent at the hands of the other, almost always the father, in effect lose both parents, and are often forgotten in the midst of such dramatic situations. Reflecting the increased interest in child protection and child law systems, this second edition of When Father Kills Mother brings to public knowledge, in amplified form information about the effects of psychological trauma and bereavement on children. By combining knowledge about bereavement with that of post-traumatic stress disorder, the book remains informative and essential reading for all those involved in the field, both professionally and personally.

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The number of street children in developed and developing nations is rising, often in the midst of prosperity. These original contributions study and compare the living conditions and educational experiences of homeless children in the United States, Brazil and Cuba. Because social policy and economic factors are central to these children's plights, Mickelson and her contributors employ a political economy perspective to examine the lives of the children and the educational and social programs - successful and unsuccessful - that are designed to serve them. The book examines formal and informal programs, compares and contrasts children's situations in each country, and offers policy recommendations. Throughout the book case studies are combined with recent statistical and demographic facts about each country.

Childhood is ideally a time of safety, marked by freedom from the economic, sexual, and political demands that later become part of adult life. For many children, however, particularly those who live in our inner cities, childhood is increasingly a time of danger. In the urban war zones of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., children grow up with firsthand knowledge of terror and violence. This book examines the threat to childhood development posed by living amid chronic community violence. Most importantly, it shows caregiving adults such as teachers, psychologists, social workers, and counselors how they can work together to help children while they are still children—before they become angry, aggressive adults.

In this study, the author explains the inequalities that exist between U.S. states with respect to child social well-being outcomes by demonstrating that state level characteristics (which are structural in nature) can predict child social well-being outcomes. Child social well-being outcomes are quite variable in the United States. Children in states like Connecticut, Minnesota, and Vermont experience relatively good outcomes, while children in states like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama experience poor outcomes. Although these inequalities suggest the need for strong federal child welfare policies to raise the well-being of all children to a minimum standard, such policies remain absent from the child welfare policy agenda.

Using data from the U.S. census and various child welfare and social welfare organizations, the study demonstrates that economic, population, and child welfare policy characteristics of states influence indicators of child social well-being, including child poverty rates, infant mortality rates, and out-of-home placement rates.

Recipient of Nasen Academic Book Award

'... this book should provide an appropriate complementary text for those with an interest in the roots and destinies of youngsters experiencing disadvantage, in order that its contents might influence their practice.' - Philip Garner, British Journal of Educational Studies

`The Publishers and the editor John Cunningham Wood are to be congratulated by historians of economic thought for making handily available such a wide range of articles.' - Scottish Journal of Political Economy

Recipient of Nasen Academic Book Award

'... this book should provide an appropriate complementary text for those with an interest in the roots and destinies of youngsters experiencing disadvantage, in order that its contents might influence their practice.' - Philip Garner, British Journal of Educational Studies

Traditional models of childhood need reconstructing, especially as children become more active in negotiating the boundaries between themselves and adults. Wyness argues for new, more effective conceptions of childhood, derived from analysis of recent social policy. He interprets legislation and reveals that recent children acts and educational reform exhibit a strengthening of the socializing power of adults over children. Most importantly, this book challenges a prevalent underlying conception of children as 'lesser' or 'inferior' versions of adults, a flawed understanding that sill influences policy.

Contents:
1 The Consequences of Truancy 2.Types of Truants and Incidence 3.Types of Truancy 4.The Causes of Truancy: Social Perspectives 5.The Causes of Truancy: Psychological Indices 6.Educational Causes of Truancy 7.Government Initiatives 8.School Based Initiatives 9.Whole-School Approaches to Reducing Truancy 10. Improving School Attendance 11.Teachers, Teaching and Truancy 12.Tackling Truancy: Records of Achievement and Work Placement Schemes 13.OFSTED: Guidelines on Attendance and Truancy 14. Parents and Truancy 15.Education Welfare Service

"Working in Childrens Homes" is one of an important series of books on residential care based on research sponsored by the Department of Health. This book draws on extensive research conducted over a three-year period. The authors address the challenges and complexities facing those who work with and in childrens homes. On the basis of interviews and discussions with heads of homes and staff groups, the authors explore the tasks which face staff groups, the rationale for their procedures, their sources of stresses and rewards, and the everyday ups and downs characteristic of residential care. Key tasks are discussed in depth, such as working with individual children, the mix of young people, managers and others in their own organisation, and the wider networks surrounding the home and the child. Characteristics of good practice are named, and factors which facilitate good practice and good outcomes are identified. Valuable recommendations are made for

• implementing and modifying procedures to improve working practices
• staff selection and training
• support required by staff groups
• procedures and communication channels in the larger organisation and surrounding networks

In December 1982, the Centers for Disease Control received the first reports of cases of children with HIV/AIDS. Since that time, the child welfare system, as well as other human service organizations, have been coping with and responding to the crises of children and families living with HIV/AIDS, including the considerable number of children affected by AIDS through the illness of their parents, siblings, or other family members. This volume is intended as a resource for personnel within the child welfare field serving children and families whose lives are touched by HIV and AIDS. The contributors add insight to and fuel the discussion of the fight against AIDS. They provide tools to help better serve the children and adolescents that the current epidemic so tragically affects. Chapters and contributors include: "Factors Associated with Parents' Decision to Disclose Their HIV Diagnosis to Their Children" by Lori S. Wiener, Haven B. Battles, and Nancy E. Heilman; "Custody Planning with HIV-Affected Families" by Sally Mason; "Correlates and Distribution of HIV Risk Behaviors Among Homeless Youths in New York City" by Michael C. Clatts, W. Rees Davis, J. L. Sotheran, and Aylin Attillasoy; and "HIV Prevention for Youths in Independent Living Programs" by Wendy F. Auslander, Vered Slonim-Nevo, Diane Elze, and Michael Sherraden. Originally published as a special issue of "Child Welfare," this volume examines lessons learned from a variety of perspectives and settings, and identifies a number of continuing challenges facing the field. "Children and HIV/AIDS" is an invaluable compendium that should be read by social workers and health specialists and all those affected by the epidemic.

Parenting is attracting more professional and political attention now than ever before. More and more parents need the support of others to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to choose what would be best for their children. A variety of professionals are often involved in contributing to the assessment of parenting and/or setting up programmes for enhancing it. This important guide provides practical information for setting up assessment and parenting programmes for a range of professionals, dealing with parenting issues in historical, socio-economic, gender and ethnic contexts. In this comprehensive book, a team of multi-disciplinary experts offers practical solutions to a variety of challenges faced by parents, and professionals devoted to helping the parents. The chapters explore parenting in relation to common, specific problems such as, hyperactivity in children, behaviour problems, learning difficulties, and stepfamily situations. Enhancing Parenting Skills is essential reading for a range of professionals, including health visitors, social workers, psychologists, probation officers, education welfare officers, teachers, general practitioners and paediatricians. It is also a useful text for students on professional courses such as Social Work, Family Therapy, and Family and Education.

Professionals must increasingly focus on the importance of family involvement in making decisions about the welfare of a child who is abused or needing care. Family Group Conferences has evolved as a positive means to encourage good links between these children and their families, and to help children within the family environment----instead of taking the children out of their homes. This book assists professionals to put the planning and theory of these conferences into practice. It examines the context, origins and development of the conferences, using the research and experiences of social services. It looks at the interaction between the primary carer and the professional and the role of these conferences in relation to specific problems and situations, such as domestic violence. The book offers views from families, social workers and other professionals on the practicalities of Family Group conferences, how they are managed in practice, and their outcomes. Finally, the book includes examples from real--life family conferences.

The issue of pastoral care and how a teacher effectively provides it is currently a topic of great debate in the media. With teachers increasingly bearing the brunt of their pupils' difficult personal lives, they feel under pressure to do the 'right thing' and to do it in an informed and professional manner.
This book investigates how teachers can attempt to give good quality pastoral care, whether as a form tutor in the first instance or in a managerial role further along in their development. It uses practical case studies as examples of what can be achieved, and explores the theory of this subject, making is the perfect resource for teachers, counsellors and undergraduates on PGCE, BEd and BA courses.

The issue of pastoral care and how a teacher effectively provides it is currently a topic of great debate in the media. With teachers increasingly bearing the brunt of their pupils' difficult personal lives, they feel under pressure to do the 'right thing' and to do it in an informed and professional manner.
This book looks at how teachers can attempt to give good quality pastoral care, whether as a form tutor in the first instance or in a managerial role further along in their development. It uses practical case studies as examples of what can be achieved, and explores the theory of this subject.
It is aimed at teachers, counsellors and undergraduates on PGCE, BEd and BA courses.

"Time to Listen to Children" is an enlightening and practical guide to effective communication with children. Stressing the importance of learning to listen, professionals working with children in a variety of settings examine the skills required to help children articulate their problems and feelings. They discuss issues such as training, cultural background and religion and give accounts of their work in contexts such as education, social services, voluntary organizations, medical settings, and law. Contributors practice a variety of therapeutic techniques, including play, music and art therapy. "Time to Listen to Children" will be a valuable resource for social workers, teachers and counsellors in training and for all professionals who wish to adopt a skilled, reflective and active approach to their work with children.

First published in 1999. Family homelessness is one of the most profound and disturbing social problems of the 1990's and will be one of the most important issues facing the United States in the twenty-first century. The main purpose of this study was to develop a transitional program framework that can assist homeless women with children to become self-sufficient. In order to create this framework; this study identified current program areas and components in transitional programs for homeless women with children, including education and employment training components; and determined which program areas and components of current programs have a relationship to programs with successful outcomes.

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.

First published in 1999, this work draws together a multi-national collection of papers, and aims to stimulate the development of policy and practice in this often neglected area. It aims to offer examples of good social work practice, informed by relevant theoretical insights; to give a voice to kinship foster carers and young people so that practice can be informed by an understanding of their experience; to share the results of current research; to highlight issues for policy makers; and to place the issues in the wider international context of developing social policy, ideology and social change. There are contributions from the UK, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, the US and New Zealand.

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.

With welfare reform at the top of the U.S. Congress agenda, the orphanage debate has resurfaced. The current child welfare system is flawed, operating to the detriment of tens of thousands of children. Foster care, intended to act as a temporary solution, has become inadequate permanent care. While adoption is a solution for some children, many children are difficult to place or legally unavailable for permanent placement. Editor Richard B. McKenzie contends that the resurgence of private orphanages or children?s homes will become an option for those children. Rethinking Orphanages for the 21^st Century reviews the policy reforms necessary for these homes to become reliable solutions for many of the nation?s disadvantaged and abused children. This edited volume includes entirely new works and maintains continuity and cohesiveness as it explores a variety of topics ranging from judicial issues, child maltreatment, history of orphanages, regulation and funding, and solutions for reform. McKenzie, who grew up in an orphanage in the 1950s, includes the first and only large-scale survey of orphanage alumni, involving 1,600 respondents. He found that as a group, they outpaced their counterparts in the general population by significant margins on nearly all levels, including education, income, and attitude toward life.

Child welfare professionals, policymakers, sociologists, social workers, and family studies scholars will find this timely volume of great interest.

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.

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.