Since the early 1990s, intervention strategies designed to preserve the family system while serving children diagnosed with severe emotional disturbances (SED) have been on the rise. Many of these strategies sought to provide families with comprehensive approaches that link various agencies and services, thus providing a complete system of care.…

In March 2008, the National Early Childhood Transition Initiative released a document developed collaboratively over several months titled "Designing and Implementing Effective Early Childhood Transition Processes". The document was created as a resource for improving state and local performance on the State Performance Plans (SPP) and…

Informal science is a burgeoning field that operates across a broad range of venues and envisages learning outcomes for individuals, schools, families, and society. The evidence base that describes informal science, its promise, and effects is informed by a range of disciplines and perspectives, including field-based research, visitor studies, and…

Because family literacy programs are new, the definition of such programs and program models are still evolving. Broadly speaking, two criteria differentiate family literacy programs from other literacy programs: (1) the program is conceptualized around the concerns of the family as a unit; and (2) there is, at minimum, an implied educational…

Articulates how the family support movement emerged in the last 20 years, and describes the philosophical premises, principles, and practices that currently guide it. Considers the inability of current family support program typologies to guide outcome evaluations, and introduces a typology that deconstructs family support programs into their…

Over the past 20 years, home visitation has emerged as the flagship program through which many states and communities are reaching out to new parents.The presence of bills to advance home visitation in Congress and in state and local legislatures, and the fact that several states and counties are moving forward with comprehensive plans and…

Federally funded Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI) programs provide marriage education as well as other services to low-income diverse individuals and couples at many points along the marital continuum with improving children's well-being as the overarching purpose. These programs need appropriate measures of healthy marriage for couples with…

Describes Family Times, a program of home-based learning activities to provide knowledge, skills, and ideas for enhancing family life. (JOW)

Presents an approach to the evaluation of family support programs that does not violate the principles of family support. Tailoring the evaluation to the program service philosophy ensures that the evaluation process is integrated with the program to provide a more accurate picture of the program. (SLD)

Describes the use of transformative learning theory to evaluate a family-empowerment project focusing on life skills (N=34). Results reveal evidence of transformative learning outcomes such as an empowered sense of self and new connections with others. Participants also spoke of factors built into the program designed to foster transformative…

This report to Congress provides critical information about the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program (CMHI), including the characteristics of children, youth, and families as they enter the CMHI; the outcomes attained for children and youth, and their caregivers and families after entry into the…

The purpose of the present study was to examine a common practice in some areas of program evaluation, the retrospective pretest, and to present recommendations regarding its use. The authors review literature to emphasize first, that bias is likely in both prospective and retrospective ratings, and second, that under some circumstances,…

This article describes the 1st-year evaluation of a community-wide parent and family involvement program initiated in a midsized Southeast community and school district. The program consists of three major components: community-wide efforts, school-home communication, and home involvement. Formative and summative evaluation data were gathered…

This article explores the interface between adult mental health issues and child development. It refers to the literature on the impact of parental mental health difficulties on children's developmental trajectories. The article then describes a pilot scheme involving a partnership between the Northern Ireland Association of Mental Health and…

The Phoenix, Arizona Early Head Start (EHS) program is for first-time teen parents and their families. The 1998-99 project year marked the fourth year of a 5-year research and demonstration grant for EHS and concluded the third full year of program implementation. This report analyzes Year Four program services and outcomes for children, families,…