Compares machine-oriented and goal-oriented strategies for introducing computers into child- and youth-care agencies. Correlates agency needs with microcomputer applications. (SAK)

Suggests that the most effective way to help gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths in out-of-home care is to provide the same types of supports and services that all adolescents need. Explores a model, organized around five core premises that define the principles and practices of a positive youth development approach, for supporting development of…

Notes that community youth development is a challenging approach to youth work that focuses on the incorporation of new values at the practice, management, and community levels. Explores the implementation of a community youth development approach within the context of learning organization theory, and describes experiences of three youth-focused…

Rather than being a by-product of the social activism of the 1960s, modern child advocacy began and evolved immediately after World War II in the context of the welfare state. The rise and fall of the Citizens' Committee for Children of New York, begun in 1945, illustrates the changing content and meaning of postwar child advocacy. (TM)

Contemporary proposals to revive orphanges raise two questions: Is returning to orphanage care feasible? and; Would children benefit? The historical record of the 19th and early 20th centuries suggests that creating a new system of orphanges would be expensive and highly unfeasible. Past criticisms based on the perceived harm caused by…

Finds the author most effective when recounting personal experiences of dealing with regulations and bureaucratic procedures of adoption. Finds the book ineffective as a critique of adoption because of a fallacious premise that there is a shortage of children available for those waiting to adopt due to a defective adoption system. (Author/SD)

Examines from legal and psychological perspectives counseling services that are provided to minors without parental knowledge or consent. Explores current mental health agency policies and practices, and makes recommendations regarding the counseling needs and rights of minors. (SKC)

Notes that effective staff development and positive youth development practice share many philosophical and structural similarities. Examines the relationship between youth and staff development and the long-term implications of organizational commitment to the youth-serving movement's newest paradigm-positive youth development. (EV)

Describes the Supervised Independent Living Orientation Program (Michigan), which provides a transition into relatively unstructured independent living to adolescents and youths with a history of behavioral and emotional disturbances, including delinquency and psychiatric hospitalization. Discusses contracts used in the program. (BB)

As Latino children and families constitute the fastest growing ethnic group in the child welfare system, it is important to understand how to develop culturally sensitive collaborations. Suggested guidelines for developing collaborations between child welfare agencies and Latino communities include: (1) organizational and administrative…

Argues the transracial adoption debate has focused on the impact on children adopted rather than on efforts to improve the lives of children of color. Suggests society focus on conditions that bring the children to the attention of child protection authorities and solve problems in the child welfare system. (Author/SD)

A description of an experimental, social agency program which helps parents cope with their children's behavior problems within the home. (BRT)

Suggests that stress is by necessity associated with child welfare interventions. Offers help to practitioners in reducing the kinds of stress involved in child welfare interventions by helping families build consumer-practitioner relationships, assessing family processes, generating ideas on coping with intervention-related stressors, and…

Between 1854 and 1930, the placing-out or orphan train strategy (forerunner of modern family foster care) relocated approximately 150,000 orphaned or impoverished children from New York to families in the Midwest. The goal was to rear children in rural families to increase their chance of becoming productive adults. Some criticisms of the practice…

Notes that youth agencies and their administrators and practitioners face obstacles in addressing needs of gay and lesbian youths. Explores the experiences of two youth-serving agencies to offer recommendations on agency philosophies concerning the social realities of sexual minority youths and on several ways of creating a safe, welcoming, and…