Describes the Support at Home for Early Language and Literacies (SHELLS) project, an early literacy intervention for families of children between birth and age 3 in rural Australia. Findings from monitoring suggest that this collaborative, flexible model has the potential to assist families from a range of social, cultural, economic, and…

Describes development of the Sure Start program in the United Kingdom, focusing on the level of government support, policy development, and implementation. Maintains that the program is a prime example of "joined-up government" and evidence-based policy making. Outlines the program's evaluation strategy, including indicators of success.…

Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) teams are by definition comprised of professionals from a variety of disciplines who are trained to determine recommendations for the services they deliver. Research indicates that when more people are on the IFSP team, families may feel less supported, and diminished child outcomes can result. However,…

The decline in Federal funding for state-provided social services during the 1980s triggered a transformation in the states' roles in family policymaking. This booklet documents four state initiatives designed to bring about systems change: (1) Healthy Start (California); (2) the Governor's Families and Children Initiative (Colorado); (3) the…

This report examines the efforts of several visionary partnerships that have pioneered in bringing Head Start and child care services together for the children in their programs. While the partnerships vary in scope and design, all of the initiatives discussed in this report provide comprehensive services to children and families, including:…

This paper is a description and an evaluation of the Families First program in Sydney, Australia. The Families First program was set up to provide innovative family-centered early intervention services to families with young children with disabilities from birth to school age living within the South-Western Metropolitan Health Region. The program…

Noting that there is a significant gap between the number of young children eligible for Medicaid and the number actually enrolled, this report describes a year-long effort to promote collaboration between local Head Start grantees and county Medicaid offices in New Jersey. The primary goal of the project was to define and implement policies and…

This quarterly newsletter issue discusses the upcoming United Nations-sponsored International Year of the Family (IYF), with a specific focus on activities, trends, and research dealing with Canada. Four feature articles examine: (1) the work of the Canada Committee for the IYF, including activities and publications sponsored by the committee and…

This journal issue examines the four key areas for major policy action identified by the Carnegie Task Force in its report, Starting Points: Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Children. The four areas of policy recommendation are: (1) promoting responsible parenthood, concerned with preventing adolescent pregnancies and unwanted births, teaching…

In recent years, government has recognized that programs like Head Start are cost-effective investments that improve the school readiness of disadvantaged children. Over the last decade, states have been leaders in supporting services to infants and toddlers and their families. Examples of such initiatives include Hawaii's Healthy Start program,…

Marin City Families First (MCFF) is an intervention program providing intensive home-based support and services to at-risk families, through family advocates, to help them stabilize their lives and increase their ability to provide safe, healthy environments for their children. Comprised of case studies of three MCFF families and their family…

Early childhood development is increasingly viewed as an affirmation of children's rights. This report describes the concept of early childhood development and presents several viewpoints regarding early childhood care and development, parenting, and approaches to early education. The report also presents 10 case studies of programs to enhance the…

Noting that educating children requires commitment and resources from the whole community as well as the schools, this document explores school-based collaborations with social services and family programs to improve students' performance. The document first provides a rationale for school-linked programs, then describes the School-Linked Services…

This evaluation report is the third in a series of reports that are part of a 4-year national effort designed to describe the types of Even Start projects that have been funded, the services provided, the collaboration efforts undertaken, and the obstacles to program implementation that have been encountered. The current report provides…

Kamehameha Schools' Prekindergarten Educational Program (PREP) was started in 1978 to prepare at-risk Hawaiian families and their children for success in school. PREP's direct services include: (1) parent-infant educational services, including home visits to help parents prepare for a new baby and later learn appropriate child development…