A profile is provided of the 40 Local Interagency Coordinating Councils (LICCs) in Kansas, which work to develop and coordinate services to infants and toddlers with special needs and their families, as established by Part H of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The profile is intended to describe the status of Kansas LICCs, to…

This practicum was designed to assist parents of juveniles who had been placed in residential care for sexual offenses. Although there was a consensus in the field that inclusion of the family in treatment was essential, few family treatment models were available. No family treatment models were found specific to working with families that had…

In the traditional family preservation model, a family's integrity is preserved by keeping children in the care of their immediate or extended families. Family reunification has involved safely returning children to the custody of their families after a period of foster care. However, families are not preserved solely by family members maintaining…

Visits were made to selected respite care and crisis nursery programs in order to describe the programs and services they offered to families of young children with special needs and to learn more about the families who used the services and the staff who provided them. The visits to 10 crisis nurseries and 24 respite care programs resulted in…

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. A formative evaluation of the Smart Start process, to inform the current state-level decision-making processes for future Smart Start efforts, was devised from a…

The GOAL ONE Project of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is designed to ensure that children have access to an environment that provides a foundation for school success. GOAL ONE is a national project involving model, community-based, collaborative programs that provide a nurturing environment for children whose…

This paper examines issues of special needs advocacy in an international context and describes BRUSH (Brussels Support for the Handicapped), an advocacy organization in Brussels, Belgium. The possibility that advocacy is a culturally determined concept is raised. BRUSH is a group of families from the international community of Brussels who provide…

In this paper, old and new ways of thinking about day care are described as "oldthink" and "newthink." Major points of oldthink are that: (1) day care is a social service; (2) day care users are recipients, or at best, clients; (3) day care must be limited to low-income families; (4) licensing should protect children in day…

A study was done of California employers' family policies and benefits. The study surveyed a representative sample of employers from the public and private sectors and documented current employer practices regarding family policies and benefits, employer knowledge and use of the California State Child Care Tax Credit, and employer attitudes and…

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…

Noting that the skills of community-building are some of the same skills needed to help families, this newsletter issue focuses on enhancing the resources and leadership in the community as the best way to provide support for families. The articles in the newsletter include: (1) "Building on the Strengths of Communities"; (2)…

This issue of a monthly newsletter is devoted to an overview of employee benefits that assist families, including child care, extended unpaid personal leave, and flexible work options. Findings are discussed from a recent study analyzing the distribution of two of those family benefits (child care assistance and flexible work practices) among…

This report creates a framework for child welfare reform in Arizona that balances continued improvements in the current system with simultaneous testing of a more fundamentally restructured system. A new service delivery system that integrates the separate child welfare, juvenile justice, and children's mental health systems is recommended.…

This 60-item annotated bibliography focuses on case management as it relates to welfare, Medicaid, and/or the Family Support Act of 1988. While specific definitions, types of practice, and goals of case management vary greatly, the term here refers to a strategy of coordinating or integrating services for a client or group of clients in the social…

This document reports on proposed Federal reform of the welfare system. Amendments are suggested to proposed legislation that would accomplish the following goals: (1) replace the existing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with a new Family Support Program that emphasizes work, child support, and a need-based family support…