This paper reviews the research on youth empowerment in seven child welfare programmatic areas. A lack of studies specifically focused on the empowerment of youth in foster care was found. Conceptual perspectives and existing data, however, suggest that the empowerment of youth in and transitioning out of care is essential and should be overtly…

The lack of culturally appropriate health and mental health care has contributed to the large number of African American youth and families involved in the child welfare system. This article reviews the consequences of the insufficient access to culturally sensitive, evidence-supported interventions for African American foster youth. The authors…

Examines the implications of a family-focused life cycle approach for delivering health and welfare services to developmentally disabled children and their families. (CM)

Describes the Community Systems initiative, a collaborative project underway in Ontario to involve neighborhood residents, broad community networks, government, and nongovernmental organizations in the support of children and families. The initiative's goal is to improve the well-being of children, youth, and their families by finding ways to use…

It is argued that an emphasis on a method of evaluation prior to the actual beginning of a program can prove of great value to an administrator in shaping the program and explaining and defending it to boards and funding bodies. Evaluation methods are discussed. (Author/MS)

Discusses historic significance of kinship care in preserving African American families, development of kinship care and family preservation programs, and importance of the natural relationship between the two. Presents findings on states' use of kinship care in plans for the Family Preservation and Support Services Act, and explores whether they…

Examines the concept and application of prevention programs in the child welfare services, and provides a framework for child welfare services based on the public health model of prevention, which focuses on helping program administrators identify and plan services and programs for target populations at different stages in their development. (CM)

Matching Needs and Services (MNS) is a practice tool intended to help people who work with vulnerable children use rigorously assembled information on needs as a guide to design, implement, and evaluate more-effective services. To do this, MNS focuses on needs but links them to outcomes and thresholds before dealing with the services to achieve…

Describes the roles of case manager and home visitor in relation to handicapped infants, toddlers, and their families. Strongly advocates combining the roles in this service. (SAK)

Describes a needs assessment model which can be used by grass-roots organizations to collect socioeconomic and demographic data in Hispanic and other ethnic-minority communities. (CM)

Discussed the following aspects of a well-functioning family day care program: (1) clustering of homes; (2) preservice and inservice workshops; (3) consultation; (4) family day care assistants; (5) stable method of payment; (6) alternative systems; and (7) agency attitudes toward day care mothers. (Author/SDH)

Suggests a decision-making model based on case-management procedures for permanency planning in foster care. Permanency planning is offered as an alternative to counter the drift of children in foster care. (CM)

Due to a shift in clientele from Whites to Blacks, many voluntary child welfare agencies have begun to alter agency structure, orientation, and practices. Community outreach, board roles, and staff roles are discussed. (Author/DB)