Family-to-family services are emerging as an important adjunctive service to traditional mental health care and a vehicle for improving parent engagement and service use in children's mental health services. In New York State, a growing workforce of Family Peer Advocates (FPA) is delivering family-to-family services. We describe the development…

During the past three decades, there has been an increase in knowledge about early childhood development. Early experiences can function as either risk factors or protective factors for a child's future health and development. This has led to concern about how current health systems contribute to the quality of the earliest experiences of life.…

The document examines a number of sex education programs and reviews some of the problems and issues educators encounter in planning and initiating sex education programs. Included is a discussion of population background of Polk County, Iowa and a presentation by school administrators of five reasons which favor the teaching of sex education: (1)…

This paper describes the development of a consumer-based program in rural Essex County (New York) for families with children with emotional disorders. Initially, in-depth, in-home interviews were held with 24 families who had children with serious emotional disturbances concerning their service needs and desires. The following needs were expressed…

This document is the first part of a comprehensive study designed to review existing data about child development and the evaluation data of programs for children in order to propose recommendations for Federal program planning. Two major goals of the work reported in this section (Volume 1 are: (1) to arrive at an adequate definition of…

Self-help among low-income people is vitally important. In no area is self-help more important than in overcoming poverty's burdens and energizing the escape from poverty. This document comprises an inventory of self-help and mutual-help programs that feature active involvement of members of the low-income population. The programs in this…

This compilation of four annual newsletter issues on services for children with emotional disturbances presents reports of activities, meetings, services, and programs around the country as well as various feature articles. Activities funded under the Child and Adolescent Service System Program are highlighted. In the Winter 1988-89 issue, an…

Describes the evolution, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of comprehensive school-based mental health services in the Dallas, Texas public schools. A collaboration between mental health services, other health services, and the schools established 10 Youth and Family Centers to serve local schools. Benefits and challenges to coordinated…

Nine schools report in this document on the challenges, successes, and lessons they have experienced while setting up Family Centers and bringing health and social services into their schools. These schools are part of a professional network of urban schools begun and facilitated by the Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the…

This study, which collected data through interviews and document review, was designed to identify strengths and weaknesses of Minnesota's Comprehensive Children's Mental Health Act (CCMHA) of 1989 and its implementation through December 1990. Three criteria for mental health reform were established for the study, including: care should be…

This document is the fourth and final part of a comprehensive study designed to review child development data and program evaluation data so that proposals for Federal program planning can be made. This section (Volume 4) provides a summary of the topics, findings, and recommendations of the other three parts of the study. (DP)

The Center for Studies of Child and Family Mental Health has made an assessment of national programs during the last decade, and found that the Nation took the course of child-centered intervention programs for mental health. There were many startling and promising programs developed during that time such as Head Start. However, many of the…

Starting Early Starting Smart (SESS) is an early childhood public/private initiative designed to identify new, empirical knowledge about the effectiveness of integrating substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health services with primary health care and childcare service settings (e.g., Head Start, day care, preschool) to…

Describes the Decker Family Development Center (DFDC) in Barberton (Ohio), while relating the difference that the DFDC's services has made to one poor family. Recounts the DFDC's establishment, funding, and current services (adult education, counseling for parents and children, and several types of child care services). (JB)

This report of a 1974 conference on child care and public policy provides an overview of an attempt to establish a rational dialogue between public policymakers interested in the problems of child care and researchers who study the problems of child development. In Part I, a description of the historical context of issues relating to public…