The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how agency service providers describe their practices for building autonomy and relatedness for trafficked homeless youth in the Southeast. The theoretical foundation was self-determination theory, with a focus on the components of autonomy and relatedness. The guiding research…

In human services, clear definition of key concepts and strategies is critical to facilitating training, implementation, and research. This article reflects on methods undertaken to specify the wraparound process for children and families, and considers lessons that may be relevant to defining the system of care concept.

This Special Report discusses how the Allegheny County Department of Human Services and Pittsburgh Public Schools took a major step toward closing a knowledge gap that prevents schools and human service agencies around the country from developing a deeper understanding of the children in their systems and collaborating on more effective, better…

Nearly all governors have designated a state early childhood advisory council to advise policymakers in the state on how to best meet the needs of children from birth to school entry. Early childhood advisory councils in the states vary in their structure and scope, but all of them provide recommendations on improving the quality, availability,…

Low-income communities face a host of problems that threaten the health and well-being of their children and families, who generally experience more than one problem simultaneously (Brown, Amwake, Speth, & Scott-Little, 2002). Regrettably, the delivery of services to low-income families is typically fragmented and scattered. Recent policy…

There is increasing awareness that domestic violence (DV) and child maltreatment often overlap and that there are significant negative consequences to women and children who are victims in the same families. The present study contains data from a participatory evaluation of a multisite national demonstration project on family violence (the…

Surveyed state and local health planning agencies and Older Americans Act agencies. Found that coordination between aging and health planning agencies is directly associated with the level of attention given to long-term care priorities by the latter agencies. Findings suggest that coordination strategies may be important for policy change.…

Statistics describing the independent sector are incomplete and ambiguous. This is especially true in the area of services provided to youths between the ages of 16 and 24. According to Internal Revenue Service files, the independent sector consists of 821,000 organizations, including nonprofit organizations, churches, colleges and universities,…

The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) was created as an umbrella agency, to bring together state human service programs, so that people could get comprehensive assistance with many, often interrelated needs. Efforts were made to co-locate various service program offices to make access to various services easier.…

Human services agencies (n=24) responded to a survey about services for the elderly. Agency workers did not have negative perceptions of university-agency collaboration in service provision, but did not understand how such collaboration could improve services in light of increased demand due to population trends. (SK)

Participation by agencies in a network can provide access to a wider range of services and resources for the handicapped and can enable additional agencies to take advantage of information regarding specialized resources and services to the benefit of unlimited others. The major obstacle to effective networking is the fear that participation in a…

There is currently movement internationally towards the integration of services for young children and their families, incorporating childcare, education, health and family support. Shifting service provision towards partnership between services, and between these services and families, has been the subject of policy formation at various levels.…

The state of Washington implemented the Readiness to Learn program as part of the state's Family Policy Initiative. The primary goal of the program is to serve as a formal link between education and human services by authorizing grants to local school-linked, community-based consortia to develop and implement strategies that ensure children arrive…

This document discusses the development and implementation of a multiservice center that could offer a variety of human social services in a single location. The paper focuses on seven components of the center's operation: governance, organizational structure, core services, joint funding, joint planning, joint programming, and evaluation. The…

Ohio's For the Common Good project illustrates the key role of learning in the development of interagency collaborative teams. The learning appeared to be constructivist in nature, with connections to communities of practice and learning communities. (Contains 17 references.) (SK)