Identifies long-standing and pervasive issues related to the preparation of teachers, especially for high-poverty urban schools. Simplistic views of teachers and teacher education prevail, and a second constraining factor is the lack of understanding of the fundamental relationship between the scope and nature of teacher preparation and the…

For imperative moral and practical reasons, our commitment to children must transcend political rhetoric and produce a continuum of programs beginning before birth and sustained until adulthood. Children need defenses against preventable infant mortality, childhood diseases, homelessness, unsafe childcare, and early sex and parenthood. Families…

Describes the demographic characteristics of India's child population. Discusses state care of its destitute and orphaned children and voluntary child welfare organizations. (RJC)

Describes the efforts of the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres to find an alternative settlement for homeless women living on the street in Bombay. (JOW)

Notes that many children who experience abuse, family disruption, or poverty reach adulthood with a strong commitment to family life. Questions whether changes in American families are indicators of pathology, deterioration, and instability; and asks how dysfunctional families transmit commitment to the concept of family to succeeding generations.…

Estimated impoverishment risk for two samples of community-living elderly (N=900+). Found that for elders over age 75, 46 percent of those living alone and 2 percent of couples would spend lifetime assets and current income, becoming impoverished in 13 weeks if institutionalized in skilled nursing facility. Rates were comparable for elders over…

Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a dichotomy was found in the experience of poverty in the elderly years. In the first three years of poverty, exit probabilities were relatively high for escaping poverty, but after three years probabilities were extremely low. Found no racial differences. (Author/ABL)

Examined the neighborhood context of child maltreatment. A model of neighborhood "impoverishment" devised from the ecological perspective was employed to predict rates of maltreatment. Findings underscored the importance of social support in mediating child maltreatment. (Author/ABL)

Empowerment for disadvantaged communities is complex; issues involved are defining community, conflicts of interest, equating populism with empowerment, and viewing it as zero-sum. Given these impediments and the nature of disadvantage, community development should conduct rational analyses of need, continue dialog with community interests, and…

The rural poverty rate rose 0.6 percent in 1990 to 16.3 percent, compared to 12.7 percent for urban areas. All nonmetro population groups had higher poverty rates than metro counterparts. About 43 percent of nonmetro families headed by women were poor. The Family Support Act may help such families. (SV)

Social security systems in many countries must serve different populations of women, both as beneficiaries and as insured workers. As more women are acquiring their own social security rights, it is unclear what jobs they will have, what the benefits will be, what family responsibilities they will have, and what social policies will affect their…

Includes "Uprooted Children Threatened by Exploitation" (Bonnet); "Child of the Wind" (Roess); "At the Fishing School with the Sampaneers" (Bertrand); and "The Street Kids of Nairobi: Surviving in the City" (Goodson). (SK)

The mainstream economy and culture are unable to compete with the money, respect, and identity that selling crack offers. The infiltration of organized crime and narco-dollars into the local economy, the inadequacy of entry-level wages, and the breakdown of basic public services have created a new kind of poverty. (CJS)

Examines how drug traffic affects child-care arrangements used by families trying to survive in a high-risk neighborhood. Small children may be left with unemployed or older relatives, older siblings, or with children barely older than themselves. Older-generation caregivers in particular need support to continue to care for children. (CJS)

Discusses the concept of an underclass and the use of the term in current literature. Attempts a correct definition of the word. Notes that it is still misleading with regard to Blacks because of the certain exclusion of the Black underclass from the labor market. (DM)