This paper proposes the use of home-based, family-centered services that are designed to encourage the healthy development of children in their families. Such services would constitute part of a comprehensive approach to the child welfare problem in Indiana. The goals of family-centered services are to: (1) preserve the integrity of the family;…

As a result of the impact of economic industrialization on the U.S. economy, the extended family in the United States has fragmented; nuclear families have lost contact with sources of parenting information and, increasingly, when parenting problems have occurred, the assistance of social service agencies has been requested. The lack of parenting…

This article refutes 10 myths and identifies literature that supports service delivery to infants and toddlers with disabilities in natural settings. The benefits of naturalistic intervention, home-based services, and family-centered services are discussed, and concerns regarding therapist shortages, ethical problems, personal safety of providers,…

Home based family centered (HBFC) service programs have been developed as alternatives to out-of-home placement. These programs have reported relatively high service success rates at costs signficantly lower than foster home and institutional care while, at the same time, avoiding the social and psychological risks of out-of-home placement.…

This article proposes a home computing intervention program aimed at empowering children with learning disabilities and their parents. The program aims to promote children's academic performance and emotional growth, and is based on a sense of coherence construct. Two suggested strategies are viewed as representing a continuum of parent-child…

A mother of a son with Down syndrome discusses how her family and child care providers work with him in natural environments to support his learning in daily activities. She urges other parents to keep trying until they find the right match that works for their family. (CR)

This essay discusses methodological and ethical problems in the implementation and evaluation of home-based intervention programs for young children and their families. Part I notes the difficulties in (1) selecting an appropriate research design to evaluate a program (e.g., preventing sample bias), (2) specifying precisely the intervention method…

Describes an approach to welfare services based on a home visitor model. Notes that child welfare agencies have moved to a decidedly short-term orientation toward service delivery, whereas the problems faced by many families require a more long-term approach, with services designed to address problems with roots in a host of social, economic, and…

This report recommends a 10-year plan for changes in services to people with intellectual disabilities in Victoria, Australia. Intended key outcomes of the plan include: increases in the numbers of clients receiving direct residential support in community-based accommodations; reductions in numbers of adult clients resident in large scale…