This study explored the school and life experiences of four adults diagnosed with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) from an urban area in western Canada. Semi-structured interviews provided insight into the lives of these adults, including their experiences with this disorder as it related to their social interactions and peer relationships…

Objective: Although there is growing evidence that the emotional dimensions of child maltreatment are particularly damaging, the feasibility and appropriateness of including emotional maltreatment (EM) in child welfare statutes continues to be questioned. Unlike physical and sexual abuse where investigations focus on discreet incidents of…

Examined Orten and Soll's typology and Homer's conceptualization of runaways as "running from" or "running to" something; expanded context to include interactions with family and professionals. Used case study and survey of nine adolescent runaways from residential setting to explore hypotheses. Found majority ran away from…

The author describes the process and development-related benefits of "participatory research." Her example is of the efforts of Canada's native people to resolve the issue of family and child welfare. (Author/CH)

Analyzed rates of birth, divorce, marriage, and unemployment in Canada and United States in comparison to rates of suicide from 1950 to 1985. Found no association between marriage and suicide in Canada, in U.S. marriage had protective effect. Divorce rates were associated positively and birth rates associated negatively with suicide in both…

The violence women experience in battering is both physical and psychological. A study in 1980 found that 1 in 10 women was hit, kicked, beaten, punched and terrorized by her husband or partner in Canada. Children living in battered homes may suffer a higher risk of direct physical or sexual abuse and many are neglected. Some progress has been…

An association of families of children with leukemia, the Family Leukemia Association (FLA), was recently established in Toronto. This paper discusses (a) philosophy of the FLA; (b) formative years of this organization; (c) problems encountered by leukemic children and their families; and (d) the FLA's past and future educational and social…

Recombined families are faced with the same challenges as "ordinary" families. However, the relationships that unite the members of the recombined family are more complex, which causes a potentially higher number of difficulties than in other families. This brochure, in French- and English-language versions, was designed to address these…

Reports findings from a survey completed by 105 Canadian families with adopted children from Romania. Results reflect the parents' perceptions of the adoption experience, the condition of the child on adoption, the parents' subsequent developmental concerns, and the children's progress. Parents' perceived needs and concerns are reported, and…

Conducted a longitudinal analysis of the relationship of divorce to the national suicide rate in Canada. Found the suicide rate varied directly with the rate of family dissolution, even after taking into account the effects of unemployment and females' participation in the labor force. (Author/ABB)

Reviews evidence on biological etiology of autism and other pervasive developmental deviations, stressing necessity for providing early and accurate diagnosis for family. Discusses implications of downplaying individual pathology and concentrating on parental or family dysfunction. Presents components of psychoeducational model for diagnosis and…

The idea of family is being rediscovered in the 1980s. By no means coincidentally, industrial economies throughout the western world have been experiencing serious contraction. Quebec's 1984 working paper on family policy, "For Quebec Families," is illustrative of one government's rediscovery of family by means of the appropriation of…

Parents have the right to their children, but their children have a right to live. The Criminal Code should be amended to oblige parents to prove their innocence. If the Crown can establish that the child was beaten when only parents were present, parents should prove they were not responsible. (Author)

Parents from families referred by a social service department completed a questionnaire measuring ego differentiation among family members and provided information from which a genogram of families' multigenerational relationship systems was constructed. Results indicated that families had lower levels of differentiation than a nonclinical norm…

This presentation offers one perspective on Canadians' use of television. Daily life in Canada is inspected in an effort to discern what it is about the way of life in Canada that makes Canadians need television to the extent that they do. Much of the public discourse on television and children focuses on perceived negative influences. Rarely…