Family literacy refers to parents and their children using literacy together at home. They participate in literacy experiences in a natural way during their daily routines. Studies on family literacy show its impact on the children's literacy development. For more than five decades, family literacy studies have demonstrated the importance of the…

Families who live in poverty face disadvantages that can hinder their children's development in many ways, write Greg Duncan, Katherine Magnuson, and Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal. As they struggle to get by economically, and as they cope with substandard housing, unsafe neighborhoods, and inadequate schools, poor families experience more stress in…

Analyzes the defeat of the California child care tax credit bill and suggests avenues for parents, child care groups, and professionals to use in future advocation efforts. (BJD)

This country has many programs that affect families, but it has no family policy. Present understanding of what causes changes in the family is not an adequate guide to the formation of a comprehensive family policy. The temporary alternative lies in limited, carefully weighed responses to selected problems. (Author)

Discusses social service needs of homeless children and families. Provides suggestions for implementing changes in programs for the homeless that will better meet those needs. (PCB)

The United States has no national policy on "the family." Reviews the reasons why it is unlikely that such a policy will emerge in the foreseeable future, and urges adoption of social policies and programs that will assure to all children the care and nurturance for growth and development. (Author)

Presents a case study in which family policy in five European countries and the United States is compared in relation to the question of how citizens can raise the care for children at the same time they are productive members of the work force. (Author)

Analyzes contemporary myths that impede the construction of a compassionate social policy toward the poor, challenges these assumptions, and outlines elements of a political agenda responsive to the needs of impoverished families. (PCB)

Reviews literature on how exemplary child care services in Europe, the United States, and selected Canadian provinces have been planned, organized, and coordinated with other child and family support services, and with education, recreation, and public health services. (JPB)

The interest in family policy on the part of academic and political leaders may offer new opportunities to enact social legislation. Serious violations of civil liberties may threaten individuals and nonconventional families. Risks implicit in the adoption of a national policy outweigh the possible gains. (Author)

Critical to the success of initiatives to reform and restructure educational and community services to improve the lives of children is the way in which they are financed. This report explores the movement toward privatization through contracting in managing, financing, and delivering child and family social services and provides a conceptual…

Why are child welfare agencies more hospitable to assessment than family service agencies? What are the implications for other fields of practice? These and other issues are discussed, along with a useful formula for studying practice principles. To illustrate this formula, agency-based demonstration programs are described. (Author)

Basic information about respite care for individuals with disabilities and their families is presented in a question-and-answer format. The following questions are addressed: "What is respite?"; "Who needs respite services?"; "Who provides respite services?"; "What kinds of services are provided?"; "How…

Considers the emergence of family-centered child care as a program model. Presents an historical overview of the family as a child-care component of quality and past efforts in parent education and parent involvement. Outlines a conceptual framework for family-centered child care, and discusses implications for public policy. (Author/KB)

Noting the while there may be much support for the principle that families on welfare should have access to 2 years of education and training and then be expected to work, this paper contends that it will be extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to design a coherent and constructive program within the probable federal budget constraints. In…