Designed to help political leaders plan and organize a systematic set of government initiatives and policies to improve the quality of life for American families, this document provides a blueprint for mounting a comprehensive effort in support of America's children and their families. The document begins by outlining the need for a national plan,…

This final report of a project to serve culturally/linguistically diverse (C/LD) children (ages birth to 5) in Erie County (New York) presents a project overview, a summary of project outcomes, results of agency and parent evaluation, and conclusions. Project CROSSROADS (Cooperative Transagency Program for Preschool Culturally/Linguistically…

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…

This report describes results of an evaluation of respite care programs and crisis nursery programs for children with disabilities, based on survey forms received from 81 programs and site visits to selected programs across the United States. The survey of crisis nursery programs and the survey of respite care programs gathered data on amount of…

In 1989, a group of employer representatives in the Denver metropolitan area formed an employers' roundtable to address work and family issues. A survey developed by the roundtable was sent to employers in the Denver area in 1992. This directory compiles the results of the survey. Section 1 of the directory summarizes employers' efforts to provide…

This executive summary crystallizes the main themes of a study that is intended to help policymakers, advocates, community members, and welfare administrators create a welfare system to do more for children and do it better. The study was prompted by the Family Support Act of 1988. The following programs that have been successful in providing…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under 6 years of age and their families. This report describes the comprehensive plan to evaluate the state and local goals and objectives of the program, focusing on the components addressing the…

Marin City Families First (MCFF) is an intervention program providing intensive home-based support and services to at-risk families, through family advocates, to help them stabilize their lives and increase their ability to provide safe, healthy environments for their children. Comprised of case studies of three MCFF families and their family…

This guideline summarizes state-of-the-art approaches and interventions designed to strengthen the role of families in substance abuse prevention. Topics discussed are: (1) "Why Use Family-Centered Approaches? Aren't Our School and Community Efforts Sufficient?"; (2) "How Big a Problem Is Substance Abuse Among Youth?"; (3)…

Early childhood development is increasingly viewed as an affirmation of children's rights. This report describes the concept of early childhood development and presents several viewpoints regarding early childhood care and development, parenting, and approaches to early education. The report also presents 10 case studies of programs to enhance the…

The Australian Family Income Transfer Project (AFIT) is designed to examine the impact of government policies on the economic well being of Australian families. The AFIT Project uses published national statistics as well as data and information collected by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (the project's sponsor) in its own studies and…

These guidelines were written to help families coordinate the health care that may be needed by a child with spina bifida. The booklet begins with general information about spina bifida. It then discusses the goals of health care, the health care team, the importance of periodic health care, and record keeping procedures. The child's health care…

This interdisciplinary curriuclum is intended as a framework for teaching a families course. It is designed to be used with graduate students studying early intervention work with families of young children with disabilities. The curriculum attempts to provide students with information related to family theory, research, policy, and law with…

Vermont experienced a rapid expansion of federal childhood funding and programs (accompanied by their voluminous and sometimes contradictory regulations), and identified the need to unify the system after recognizing that the complexity of the early childhood education service delivery system was bewildering for parent-consumers. This report…

This handbook is designed to assist in duplicating Project LIVE (Literacy Implements a Vibrant Existence), a family literacy project. Its purpose is to share some ideas and methods of teaching family literacy. It begins with a description of a typical day at the project. Recruitment, interviewing and testing, evaluations, and graduation are…