The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for high-quality supports focused on families' health, education, and employment needs. As service delivery organizations have worked to meet these needs, they have been stretched thin. The complex challenges these organizations faced have increased the need for them to engage partners across sectors,…

The transition from high school to adulthood is difficult for youth with autism spectrum disorder and their families. Recognizing these challenges, there is a small but emerging body of literature testing interventions to improve the transition process. But there are many challenges in performing intervention research that have yet to be fully…

Increasing government interest in parenting support has emerged in response to the increasingly diverse form of families, a growing emphasis on children's rights and a policy shift towards prevention and early intervention. This has contributed to a range of stakeholder activity in the area, with the notion that parenting is a set of skills that…

The Family Leadership Training Institute (FLTI) is a program that can respond to data documenting the health of the nation. Participants engage in individual civic projects that align with social determinants of health and seek to ameliorate health inequities. They also discover and/or increase their civic engagement skills to more effectively…

Historically, Maori children in New Zealand have been consistently over-represented in negative social statistics. To describe the current status of New Zealand's education and services for at-risk Maori children and their families, this article highlights the country's overall structure of special education and services, as well as unique…

This brief report provides facts about Early Support for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) on the following topics: (1) What is the purpose of the IDEA Part C early intervention?; (2) Early intervention service delivery in Washington, July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016; (3) Primary early intervention services; (4) What are the expected child outcomes?;…

Within a learning family, every member is a lifelong learner. A family literacy and learning approach is more likely to break the intergenerational cycle of low education and inadequate literacy skills, particularly among disadvantaged families and communities. The selection of case studies presented in this compilation show that for an…

Nationally, many resources are spent on programs to ameliorate poor educational and economic outcomes for our children and families, in particular for urban and immigrant families. Programs like the federally funded Head Start, Community Development Block Grants, and thousands of nonprofits across the nation provide out-of-school-time academic and…

The purpose of this special issue of Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics is to present an evidence-based system to guide the physical therapy management of patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Two systematic guides to patient management will be presented. The first is a care path intended primarily for use by physical…

Public enforcement agencies such as criminal justice, child welfare, and immigration directly or indirectly impact children and families, often through mandated requirements and forced separations. As a result, families involved with these agencies can be wary of trusting early childhood home visitors and mental health providers. Through case…

Infancy is a time of extreme opportunity, but it is also a time of extreme vulnerability, particularly for those reared in high-risk environments. Although infant exposure to any risk is important to understand, this brief focuses on the experience and impact of "trauma," defined as witnessing or experiencing an event that poses a real…

This paper deals with the implementation of integrated services providing early support for young children and their families. The integration of services is considered to have highly positive effects on the development of children and on the prevention of child neglect and maltreatment. Therefore, childcare centres have been developed into family…

When addressing the ongoing shortage of family and consumer sciences (FCS) teachers, it is important to accommodate those unable to follow a traditional college program. This article describes a program that is beneficial to practicing professionals; it utilizes technology to aid in effective communication and efficiency of content delivery.…

Extension is experiencing a trend toward closer alignment of its programs serving families and youth, notably Family and Consumer Sciences and 4-H Youth Development. Projects are more multidisciplinary and comprehensive than in the past, and, in many states, FCS and 4-HYD are also becoming more administratively integrated. Several reasons for this…

The implementation of Part C of IDEA has continued to evolve as states have built and modified service delivery systems. The number of children served has increased dramatically with nearly 350,000 children and their families now receiving early intervention services. Meanwhile, challenges to the provision of quality services--such as securing…