In 1998, the Foundation for Child Development (FCD) provided Kenneth Land a grant to explore the feasibility of producing the first national composite index of the status of American children that would chart changes in their well-being over time. Important questions needed to be answered: was it possible to trace trends in child and youth well-being over several decades? Could such an index provide a way of determining whether the United States was making progress in improving its children's lives? The Index of Child and Youth Well-Being (CWI) was born from these questions. Viewing the CWI trends from 1975 to present, there is evidence that the well-being of American children lags behind other Western nations. As conditions change, it is clear that the index is an evolving and rich enterprise. This volume attests to that evolution, and what the CWI promises for understanding the progress - or lack of progress - in enhancing the life prospects of all American children.

The growing number of elder men providing hands-on care to loved ones, particularly spouses, undeniably represents a hidden segment of the home care population. With that in consideration, caregiving in communities of color, in particular, is increasing while numbers of informal (unpaid) caregivers are projected to triple by 2030. Despite statistics, studies on African-American men who care for other elders (such as spouses and parents) - indeed, "the hidden among the hidden" - are negligible. This text follows a study conducted by Helen Black, a research scientist focusing on aging, alongside John Groce and Charles Harmon, founders of Mature Africans Learning from Each Other (M.A.L.E.), in which they interviewed elderly African-American men in caregiver roles. As a whole, The Hidden Among the Hidden is unique in its study of caregiving in the areas of subject matter, methodology, and presentation of findings. The men whose attitudes and behaviors toward caregiving are recorded in this book share a wealth of knowledge for other caregivers, gerontologists, healthcare professionals, students, and the community in general.

This manual is the companion guide to Uniquely Normal: Tapping the Reservoir of Normalcy to Treat Autism. It is a guide you in using the Bernstein Cognitive Method for Autism (BCMA, or Bernstein Method for short). Rob teaches us the commonsense approach and uses everyday situations to help children with autism progress with language, socialization, and organization. You don't need a graduate school education to use this method; you have all the knowledge and skills you need. You already know how to do everything necessary to make a difference for your child.

Urban renewal has been the dominant approach to revitalizing industrialized communities that fall into decline. A national, community-based organization, the Skillman Foundation sought to engage in a joint effort with the University of Michigan's School of Social Work to bring six neighborhoods in one such declining urban center, Detroit, back to positions of strength and national leadership. A Twenty-First Century Approach to Community Change introduces readers to the basis for the Foundation's solicitation of social work expertise and the social context within which the work of technical assistance began. Building on research, the authors introduce the theory and practice knowledge of earlier scholars, including the conduct of needs assessments at multiple levels, engagement of community members in identifying problem-solving strategies, assistance in developing community goals, and implementation of social work field instruction opportunities. Lessons learned and challenges are described as they played out in the process of creating partnerships for the Foundation with community leaders, engaging and maintaining youth involvement, managing roles and relationships with multiple partners recruited by the Foundation for their specialized expertise, and ultimately conducting the work of technical assistance within a context of increasing influence of the city's surrounding systems (political, economic, educational, and social). Readers will especially note the role of technical assistance in an evolving theory of change.

The human right to survive and develop, a fundamental premise of the "U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child," can be attained only if adequate living conditions are secured for the child. This book reviews the significance of the physical, mental, spiritual, moral, and social aspects of holistic child development called for by Article 27 of the "Convention." The editors share a vision of childhood wherein the child is accorded dignity, and opportunities exist to promote advancement of human potential. Contributors from several nations and a variety of disciplines, including psychology, law, social work, medicine, economics, and international studies, address the challenge of identifying adequate living conditions across cultures and discuss issues affecting communities and governments as they attempt to fulfill their responsibilities to children and their families. Key themes throughout the book are the significance of the child's perspective, the primacy of the family environment, the need to balance the interests of diverse cultures while reducing historical inequities, and the ecological interdependence of children, families, communities, and nations. The editors and contributors call for organized social and political action to realize the child's right to develop, including ways to measure and monitor children's well-being beyond survival.

The dominant cultural script is that the Baby Boomers have 'had it all', thereby depriving younger generations of the opportunity to create a life for themselves. Bristow provides a critical account of this discourse by locating the problematisation of the Baby Boomers within a wider ambivalence about the legacy of the Sixties.

As the state of America's children and families continues to degenerate, the human services system struggles to render the support it was designed to provide. Despite such efforts, American families have difficulty accessing services; they are forced to navigate an incomprehensible system where quantity is often deemed insufficient and quality is compromised. Simultaneously, expenditures on human services have soared to record levels, further spurring both concerns and efforts to reform and better integrate a sadly dysfunctional system. In the first comprehensive synthesis of the history, theory, and practice of service integration, Sharon Lynn Kagan, with Peter R. Neville, explores why past efforts to reform the human service system have had only isolated triumphs and marginal impact in improving the quality of life for children and families. Tracing the history of human services in America from the colonial period to the present, the author analyzes the underlying assumptions, barriers, and strategies that have characterized the service integration movement. Drawing on history, empirical research, and intellectual theory, as well as on the personal experiences of practitioners and leaders, the author extracts principles and insights that offer new directions for future social service reform. Published in cooperation with the National Center for Service Integration

This book explores various practices and policies related to ageing issues in India. It addresses ageing concerns from a theoretical and empirical viewpoint with in-depth analyses of existential dimensions of ageing. It provides deep insights into ageing in India by discussing demographics related to health and social differentials, gender concerns, retirement problems, epidemiological transition taking place in the country with rising problem of dementia and mental health problems. It consists of 23 chapters written by various established as well as upcoming scholars in the field. The authors cover a broad range of topics with regard to provisions for institutional care, geriatric practice and emerging issues of elder abuse. The book will appeal to professionals and to lay people getting interested in ageing India from a social, health, gender, economic, psychological and emotional aspects.

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This reference book provides information on the family planning rights of minors in eleven countries in North America and Western Europe. The Adolescent Dilemma covers a minor's legal rights to abortion services and birth control. In addition, this comprehensive resource discusses sex education, sexual behavior, and the nature and extent of contraceptive practices. The introduction presents a framework for discussing minors' rights and the conclusion draws on the information provided in the book to take a brief, comparative look at the topic. Both a reference resource on family planning and a data source for cross-cultural comparisons, this book will be of interest to social service professionals at all levels.

This volume examines developmentality and the archeology of its social practices, unfolding systemic failures that muffle progress. Economic, climate, and social justice are the areas of focus for this analysis of human-social development in the fog of ideological-institutional meltdowns.

This text describes the relationship between political authoritarianism and people's welfare in modern China. Based on a study of Chinese political discourse from the 1898 reform period to the present, the book aims to demonstrate that support for authoritarian rule in modern China is best understood when compared to ancient political traditions of authority and welfare that were established in China's late Zhou dynasty by the Confucian philosopher Xunzi (298-238 BC).

This book describes the tremendous impact of housing policy, which oftentimes discourages communities and inhibits family stability. The book traces housing history from the Victorian Era in London to the present. It gives special attention to Washington, D.C., presenting various grassroots programs that have grown to provide community support in severely impoverished areas. The Unintended Consequences gives important firsthand accounts of federal urban initiatives and explains the importance of nurturing community. Historical analysis is blended with interviews with public housing residents and officials to supplement the firsthand account of primary author James Banks. This book is appropriate for urban planners, policy makers, advocates for the urban poor, as well as students of sociology and urban studies in the United States.

Citizenship is a phenomenon that encompasses the relationships between the state and individuals, rights and responsibilities and identity and nationhood. Yet the relationship between citizenship and childhood has gone relatively unexplored. This book examines this relationship by situating it within the historical development of modern forms of citizenship that have formed contemporary Western notions of childhood and citizenship. The book also engages with recent political and social theory to rethink our current view of citizenship and develops an understanding that emphasises social interdependence and calls for a concomitant re-evaluation of our public spaces that facilitates the recognition of children as participating agents within society.

The child welfare system is broken, and no one seems to know how to fix it. Except for the increasing number of scandals in the news, the public knows little about the system, which is hidden from public scrutiny, allegedly to protect children. Meanwhile, the number of children being propelled into the welfare system is increasing at an alarming rate, and more than 25 state child welfare systems are being sued in federal court for abusive and neglectful practices. A careful examination of the child welfare system is long overdue. This book explores the sources of the problems in the system, places those problems in their historical, legal, and policy perspectives, and explores the implications of policies for state and national levels.

The book opens with an overview of the child welfare system and the problems inherent in it. Schwartz and Fishman then analyze attempts to mend the system and review the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act--the foundation for contemporary child welfare policy. The following chapters look at the practice of adoption, the potential movement between child welfare and delinquency, and the problems of residential care. The book concludes with the implications of child welfare policy for the state and national levels and recommends ways to reform the system.

This book offers an analysis of European capitalist welfare societies, centering on the questions of sustainability and the financing of social rights. Capitalism is defined as a multi-model economy, comprising of a market economy (including production, distribution and exchange), a state welfare economy (based on compulsory transfers, such as taxes and social contributions), a household economy and a voluntary economy. The resources for the welfare economy are produced by some activities of the life course, and used by other activities, once rights over these resources are acquired. Setting out a new conceptual framework that integrates an adapted version of the theory of instituted economic processes with the changing structuration of the life course in European countries, the book argues that European capitalist welfare societies are not sustainable in their present form and that the future financing of social rights is conditional on substantial transformations. The book also analyzes relevant data on the socio-economic positioning of women and migrants.

The changing economic conditions of the 1990s now demand a review of the framework and adaptation to conditions currently prevailing in the government's role in social welfare. Recognizing that the national political leadership no longer was willing to support all of the public programs and benefits that it had initiated in the past 50 years, the authors assume that a downsizing of the national government's role in social welfare will occur. This volume explores how downsizing will affect the private sector, nonprofit organizations, families, and individuals, while including specific recommendations and suggestions on how social welfare programs can be reformed or modified.

This book traces the historical development of social policy analysis, emphasizing the factors that promoted its development, the need for social policy analysis, and the fields of application for social policy analysis.

Kantor's objective in this book is to help Washington, the Veterans Administration (VA) staff, the vets themselves, and the general public understand the shortcomings of VA medicine today beyond what they read in the newspapers, so that all concerned can chip in to help improve the medical care that all the vets, and not just those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, are receiving. He reveals exactly how everyone--Washington, veterans, advocacy groups, the various members of the VA staff (including the doctors), the nonmedical and medical administration, the clerks and the rest of the ancillary staff, and the vets themselves--are all together responsible for the breakdown of the system, as he argues that all contribute a share to creating that endpoint: a severe state of havoc with the vets' medical care.

Kantor goes on to describe some of the signature illnesses from which vets suffer, and in the process pinpoints exactly how the system specifically manages to mismanage these ailments, making already serious medical problems even worse. In addition, the author envisions a more ideal VA of the future, bringing forth specific improvements that will assure its implementation. The book concludes with a description of the more positive aspects of the system, offering a platform upon which meaningful reforms can be built.

Historically, the diagnosis of deafness in a child has been closely associated with profound disability, including such typical outcomes as unmet potential and a life of isolation. A major shift away from this negative view has led to improved prospects for deaf children.

"Resilience in Deaf Children" emphasizes not only the capability of deaf individuals to withstand adversity, but also their positive adaptation through interactions with parents, peers, school, and community. In this engaging volume, leading researchers and professionals pay particular attention to such issues as attachment, self-concept, and social competence, which are crucial to the development of all young people. In addition, the volume offers strategies for family members, professionals, and others for promoting the well-being of deaf children and youth.

Coverage includes: Attachment formation among deaf infants and their primary caregivers.Deaf parents as sources of positive development and resilience for deaf infants.Enhancing resilience to mental health disorders in deaf school children.Strength-based guidelines for improving the developmental environments of deaf children and youth.Community cultural wealth and deaf adolescents' resilience.Self-efficacy in the management of anticipated work-family conflict as a resilience factor among young deaf adults.

"Resilience in Deaf Children" is essential reading for researchers, clinicians, and graduate students in clinical child, school, and developmental psychology as well as for allied researchers and professionals in such disciplines as school counseling, occupational therapy, and social work.

This book discusses peer group programs and long range community efforts to rehabilitate street youth, gang members, and other youth who have low self-esteem, come from dysfunctional families, and are failures in school and society in general. Through his experience and workshops, Frank has found ways for these youth to deal with their rage and shame in a productive, effective, and edifying manner. The author shows how behavior and attitude improve when the youths learn to curb their feelings of inadequacy by building positive self-esteem. This will be an excellent tool for educators, counselors, social workers, and others concerned with troubled adolescents.

This Festschrift is published in honor of Alex C. Michalos, a great scholar and inspiration to many upcoming and famous academics and practitioners. The Festschrift celebrates his lifelong, outstanding scientific and cultural contribution to Quality of Life Research. It contains contributions written by the most prestigious and renowned scholars in the field of social indicators research and quality of life studies. Taken together, the contributions from scholars around the world reflect Michalos' stance that even though there may be differences in individual scientific positions, the language in the field of quality of life has no limits and boundaries.

This book describes the tremendous impact of housing policy, which oftentimes discourages communities and inhibits family stability. The book traces housing history from the Victorian Era in London to the present. It gives special attention to Washington, D.C., presenting various grassroots programs that have grown to provide community support in severely impoverished areas. The Unintended Consequences gives important firsthand accounts of federal urban initiatives and explains the importance of nurturing community. Historical analysis is blended with interviews with public housing residents and officials to supplement the firsthand account of primary author James Banks. This book is appropriate for urban planners, policy makers, advocates for the urban poor, as well as students of sociology and urban studies in the United States.

'This important and illuminating book provides a powerful and harrowing depiction of the inadequacies of the Australian welfare system. Its findings challenge the foundations and direction of the welfare reform agenda.' - Professor Peter Saunders, University of New South Wales'This major new study challenges many myths about life on welfare and in low paid work. It should be read by anyone concerned with welfare reform.' - Jane Millar, Professor of Social Policy, University of BathWhat is it really like to be unemployed and on welfare? How do you make ends meet? Does the welfare system actually help people get back into jobs?Half a Citizen draws on in-depth interviews with 150 welfare recipients to reveal people struggling to get by on a low income, the anxieties of balancing paid work with income support, and how unstable housing makes it difficult to get ahead.By investigating the lives beyond the statistics, Half a Citizen also explodes powerful myths and assumptions on which welfare policy is based. The majority of welfare recipients interviewed are very active, in paid work, caring for children or for other family members, and they see themselves as contributing and participating citizens, even if they sometimes feel they are being treated as 'half a citizen'. These stories of resilience and passion bear no resemblance to the clich d images of dependence, laziness, and social isolation which underpin social policy and media debate.

The Handbook is an attempt to bridge the gap between the highly technical and the everyday, practical resource tools for those just introduced to the field of aging. Its objective is not to provide a definitive examination of American aging programs, but to look closely at a number of programs that are having a significant impact on the lives of older adults in America today.