This book is a compilation of summaries of newly enacted state legislation affecting children and families. It documents legislative activity, emerging trends, and innovative policies in the states, providing information essential to effective policymaking. Part 1 describes the National Conference of State Legislatures' Children and Families…

This instructor's manual provides an overview, directions, and answer keys for working with the study guide for direct care workers who are enrolled in a self-directed communication skills distance learning program for developmental disabilities workers. It begins with a list of the 12 theme areas and 105 units into which the theme areas are…

Many adolescents need basic health care and other services that address risky behaviors such as sexual activity, violence, alcohol and other drug abuse, and the consequences of those behaviors. This publication summarizes approximately 200 child health-related laws and resolutions passed in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the U.S.…

Rural Health Outreach is a federal program of demonstration grants designed to encourage organizations to cooperate in delivering health care services to rural Americans. Thirteen programs utilizing innovative collaborations between state agencies, schools, nonprofit organizations, hospitals, volunteers, and the private sector are described a year…

This paper describes the Home-Based Crisis Intervention (HBCI) program in New York and the characteristics and outcomes of the families involved in a study that investigated the effectiveness of the program. The HBCI program provides short-term intensive in-home services to families with children who are at-risk of out-of-home placements. The…

This policy paper focuses on what emerging research tells policymakers about why it is so important to intervene to help young children at risk for poor social, emotional, and behavioral development, and what kinds of research-based interventions seem most effective. The paper addresses the relationship between early academic learning and…

"Zero to Three" is a single-focus bulletin of the National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families providing insight from multiple disciplines on the development of infants, toddlers, and their families. Conceived by the Zero to Three Child Welfare Task Force, this issue focuses on agents of change for infants and toddlers in foster…

This report is the third to document the condition of children in the state of Illinois and the performance of the policies and programs designed to serve them over the past decade. One of the main themes emerging from the findings is the increasing diversity of the Illinois child population, in terms of both racial and ethnic groups and the…

This KIDS COUNT Report details statewide trends in the well-being of Maine's children. The statistical portrait is based on a variety of indicators in the areas of: (1) physical and mental health; (2) social and economic opportunity; (3) education and learning; and (4) child health care access. The report contains a special section on Maine…

An Australian study of 40,000 women found that the age at which young women have children is related to broader patterns of social inequality and to the disadvantagement of young rural women. Of particular concern is the increasing polarization between better-educated young women who defer motherhood and less-educated women who have children at a…

Identifies the need for educational reformers to address the psychological problems of low-income urban and rural minority students. It is argued that the educational reform movement must be much more proactive in using the existing knowledge base of counseling and psychological support services personnel. (SLD)

Over the last thirty years, children's behavioral health services in the school have witnessed drastic progress. Over this time, medications for mental health problems have improved. In addition, empirically validated treatments, most of which have come from behavioral psychology, have made their way into Best Practice guidelines for the treatment…

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health concerns in the United States and they tend to be among the most frequently reported in college mental health. While efficacious research for the psychotherapy treatment of specific anxiety disorders (e.g., social phobia, panic disorder, etc.) exists, the picture is more complex in clinical…

This study investigated psychosocial predictors of early pregnancy and childbearing in single young women, consistent with the Eriksonian developmental perspective. Two mail-out surveys assessing reproductive behaviour and sociodemographic, education/competence, psychosocial well-being, and aspiration factors were completed 4 years apart by 2635…

The National Assembly on School-Based Health Care conducted the 2004-05 Census, the tenth count of school-based health centers (SBHCs) since 1986, to: (1) provide a better understanding of the role of SBHCs in meeting the needs of underserved children and adolescents; (2) collect up-to-date data on demographics, staffing services, operations,…