The conceptualization of individual quality of life is reasonably well established, and now family quality of life and intellectual disability is emerging as an important field of study. This article examines comparative family quality of life in three types of families: those with a child who has Down syndrome, those with a child with autism, and…

Sand tray with group therapy can be an effective treatment approach for parents coping with adolescent substance abuse and/or dependency. Excerpts of parent sand trays are presented to demonstrate pretreatment tasks that decrease denial, reduce reactive anger, stop enabling behaviors, and build support systems. Parent-child relational issues,…

An earlier article published in this journal sought to recover the views of professionals concerned with the delivery and implementation of a "Third Way" multiagency programme tackling the social exclusion of young children and their families known as Sure Start. The tentative findings suggested a "bottom-up" partnership…

"Success for All" is a comprehensive reform model, which applies cooperative learning, tutoring, family support services, and extensive professional development to help high-poverty schools succeed with their pupils. A review of research on "Success for All" with African American students focuses on evidence that the model reduces the achievement…

The authors examined the effects of antipoverty programs on children's cumulative poverty-related risk and the relationship between cumulative poverty-related risk and child outcomes among low-income families. Samples included 419 children ages 3-10 years in the New Hope program and 759 children ages 2-9 years in the Minnesota Family …

Parents are one of the most important influences in positive child and youth development, yet too many caregivers, especially those in higher risk families, fail to receive supports that would improve parenting and family functioning. By strengthening parent/caregivers and their connections to resources, communities can improve child and youth…

There is a need to train professionals across disciplines to work collaboratively on program development and implementation to address the caregiving issues prevalent in our aging society. The North Carolina State University Departments of Social Work and Family and Consumer Sciences provided a training opportunity for social workers and county…

This paper is a draft of Chapter 8 of a planned book, "Preschool and Jobs: Human Development as Economic Development, and Vice Versa". This book analyzes early childhood programs' effects on regional economic development. Four early childhood programs are considered: (1) universally accessible preschool for four-year-olds of similar…

The number of U.S. children living in poverty increased in 2007--continuing an upward trend dating back to 2000: in 2007, 13.3 million children were living in poverty, up from 11.6 million children in 2000. The percentage of children living in families with incomes below the poverty line has increased from 16.2 percent in 2000 to 18.0 percent in…

As of March 2008, over half of U.S. states are facing projected budget shortfalls for the coming fiscal year. During economic downturns such as this, opportunities available to hard-working, low-wage families are diminished. These conditions create growing concerns for policymakers who must, with fewer state resources, enhance opportunities and…

Background: To explore whether social or emotional outcomes for high-risk early adolescent youth that attended an established preventive intervention called the Chicago Child-Parent Center Preschool Program (CPC) are moderated by individual, family and program variations. Purpose: Two questions are addressed: (1) Do the effects of CPC preschool…

Adolescent survivors of sexual abuse frequently report severe trauma, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. While cognitive-behavioral group interventions show promise, interpreting efficacy is problematic due to commonly high attrition. This article reports promising exploratory study findings relating to a 12-week multimodal abuse-specific…

The Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Initiatives for Children and Families is a forum in which persons involved in the current generation of community-based cross-systems can engage in discussion about their work. Roundtable members, now numbering 30, meet biannually to share lessons they are learning and to work on common problems they face.…

This paper describes a comprehensive approach to intervention and support for families of children experiencing traumatic brain injury (TBI) and behavior problems. It explains the need for child- and family-centered intervention approaches, discusses the theoretical basis and key features of one approach, summarizes the steps in the support…

This manual is designed to help child care providers develop, implement, and evaluate a family development plan for at-risk families. The plan's five components are designed to: (1) identify family strengths; (2) identify family needs; (3) identify community resources; (4) develop and implement a family action plan; and (5) monitor family…