The Children's Inn, on the grounds of the National Institutes for Health (NIH) near Washington, DC, serves as a national model of the value of family-centered homes for pediatric patients and their families. When parents bring their child to NIH from a distant place, they can stay in the inn with their child while the child is receiving treatment.…

The Families and Schools Together (FAST) Program is a family-support program that helps schools build strong relationships with families of children aged 6-9 experiencing behavioral or academic difficulties. A recent study examined FAST's application in San Antonio, Texas, focusing on six community-building strategies. (Contains 29 references.)…

Studied the construct validity for scores on a measure of psychological empowerment, the Psychological Empowerment Scale, for parents of children with a disability. Results of correlational analyses and group discrimination analyses of responses of 293 parents in 3 family support programs provide evidence of the convergent and discriminant…

Explores communities of learning as innovative models for overcoming homeless children's immediate education obstacles while working toward long-term stability. Sheltered communities provide specialized education services for children and their parents and family support services. Profiles three model communities in New York City, Oregon, and…

Presents challenges to the public child-welfare system in the United States, including growing deprivation, increasing needs for lengthy out-of-home placements, and shortages of foster caregivers. Describes the Family to Family initiative to help public agencies strengthen community-based family support services, improve the quality and quantity…

Purpose: This study describes the preliminary experiences of 10 states in providing support services to family or informal caregivers of elderly adults and adults with disabilities; it focuses on the newly created National Family Caregiver Support Program, state general funds, Medicaid-waiver programs, and other state-funding streams. Design and…

The effect of reforms of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) on caseloads of another program that is Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is examined. The results reveal that a decrease in caseloads in one program cannot be interpreted as an equal-sized decrease in the number of families receiving public assistance.

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,…

The initial goals of IAMFC included conducting and fostering programs of education in the field of family counseling, and promoting and conducting programs of research in the field of marriage and family counseling (International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors, 1990). The goal of fostering program development shows signs of success,…

This report presents the findings of the formative evaluation of the Understanding the Early Years (UEY) Initiative. The evaluation was conducted to examine issues of implementation and design, early progress in achieving immediate objectives, and issues related to accountability. The evaluation team was also asked to provide preliminary guidance…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. It is the broadest and largest funding package in American history. The intent of the statute is to stimulate the economy both through direct spending on a range of programs and to create tax relief. The package makes investments…

The importance of early school experiences in the personal and social development of young refugees and asylum-seekers has been documented by researchers and enshrined in practice guidelines. The capacity of schools to implement these guidelines is, however, limited, in terms of the availability of appropriate knowledge and skills, financial…

During the 1890s and the first three decades of the 20th century, social work in the United States developed a community-based direct practice approach to family assistance and social reform. The basis for this method was a situational view of social life that emphasized the use of interpersonal and transactional methods to achieve social and…

This is the fifth and final report of a longitudinal study examining the use of a comprehensive system of prevention and early intervention services in Palm Beach County, and how its use relates to the outcomes of children and families living in four targeted geographic areas (TGAs) with high rates of poverty, teen pregnancy, crime, and child…

Patterns of classes, grades, and test scores were studied in 3 successive graduating classes of a mid-western suburban high school. Descriptive statistics indicate that the prestigious college group had the highest mean scores on 23 variables. Descriptive discriminant analysis revealed the most influential variables were cumulative grade point…