The child support program enforces the responsibility of parents to support their children when they live apart. The child support program is jointly funded by federal and state governments under title IV-D of the Social Security Act. The program collects child support for families, establishes the legal relationship between children and their…

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)

Provides examples of different kinds of information and activity centers for use in one-day workshops to increase parents' involvement in the socialization and education of their children. Among others, centers include "Family Recreation,""Enjoyment of Reading,""Book Fair," and "Family Support Service." (RH)

Describes four successful public library programs for families and gives suggestions for planning programs and measuring their success. (LLS)

Suggests that there is a pressing need to find ways of developing more services which aim to strengthen and complement families. To do this effectively, these services must be developed according to the families' needs and values. (MP)

Families of female juvenile status offenders were administered the Moos Family Environment Scale. The families could be described as moderately cohesive and adaptive. Results suggest that the dysfunctioning family may not be the primary cause of status offenses and that family-oriented treatment is possibly not the choice treatment for status…

In a community capacity building project, family and consumer sciences professionals developed a family resource center to provide programs and services to strengthen families. The project exemplifies the civic engagement role of the profession. (SK)

The family dimensions of 24 Individualized Family Service Plans written for infants/toddlers with handicaps and their families were examined to determine the presence of key legislative requirements, the domains of family goals, structural dimensions, level of parent involvement, and time parameters for goal attainment. Issues surrounding family…

The article describes the Family Support Institute in British Columbia which provides families of mentally handicapped persons with information (parent to parent contact, written articles, video and cassette tapes and a newsletter), workshops, and networking. (DB)

Describes the physical and developmental disability services of the Early Intervention Program, a therapeutic-educational program for parents and children from birth to 3 years who are "at risk" delayed or handicapped. Describes the facilities and the assessment, therapy, education, planning, and evaluation components. (RJC)

Investigates toy libraries in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland. Community toy libraries provide a place where parents and caretakers can congregrate and children's learning can be facilitated through imitation and stimulation. (RJC)

Presents results of a study comparing attitudes of important groups toward national personal social services policy. Furnishes preliminary data concerning types of individuals who would support a national personal social services policy. (SAK)

Provides overview, background, vision, and goals of a report from the Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala pledged to use the guidelines presented to help establish "Early Head Start," a new support and services program for families with…

Describes the latest research finding from an evaluation of the Homebuilders model of intensive family preservation services in Washington and Utah. Treatment success rates of the Homebuilders model matched or exceeded those of other programs. (GLR)