The purpose of the brief is to help educators, service providers, and local evaluators in schools, intermediary and community-based organizations, and social service agencies become more effective by highlighting the best program and evaluation practices of family-strengthening intervention programs. At a time when evidence-based practice matters,…

New York City has for far too long tolerated a severe imbalance in the delivery of legal services in child welfare cases. Although the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), the Legal Aid Society and Lawyers for Children all are given a significant annual budget which allows these agencies to represent petitioners and children in Family…

This feature issue focuses on strategies to support parents who have cognitive limitations to be successful in raising their children. Articles include: (1) "Encounters with Entropy: Marge's Journey from System to System" (John Franz and Pat Miles) that tells a fictional story of a mother with disabilities to illustrate the tendency of human…

Loss is a common theme of family protection work and particularly of foster care. Ways in which foster families can deal with loss are explored. It is designed to accompany a one- or two-day training course and uses a strategy of collaborative learning for caseworkers and foster parents. The course explores loss and grief through role play, small…

This guide is designed to help funders and government and nongovernment agencies understand the types of programs with the greatest potential to improve the lives of some of American society's most disadvantaged members. Much of the material is drawn from "Nurturing Young Black Males: Challenges to Agencies, Programs, and Social Policy,"…

In 1998, one decade after the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act was implemented and research results on the impacts of funding were becoming available, an evaluation of the effectiveness of fifteen programs, which included services such as emergency shelter, primary health care, and education, was needed This report presents 13 papers…

Critical to the success of current efforts to reform and restructure education and other community supports and services to improve the lives of children and their families is the way in which they are financed. This report of The Finance Project presents an overview of eight initiatives that have overcome some of the barriers created by turf…

One of the most critical challenges faced by the field of child welfare is the need to understand and respond effectively to changes in the multicultural nature of American society. This guide for human service agencies, developed by the Child Welfare League of America, is designed to assist agencies in their move toward cultural competence.…

The hyperkinetic label can impair self-image and create negative expectation. It should be used only with confidence in its accuracy and when its use confers help not otherwise available. Guidelines for appropriate diagnosis include prevalence considerations, teacher reports, extent of home difficulties, psychological testing and clinical…

The feminist movement has encouraged women to question their traditional roles as volunteers and voluntary organizations have been reconsidering the ways they have used volunteers. Responses of higher education, such as the offering of volunteer administration curricula and credit for prior learning in women's studies, are discussed. (MLW)

Projects funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), established to support postsecondary education innovation, are described. FIPSE has encouraged partnerships between emerging community institutions and formal higher education. In recent years, nonprofit communications groups have been developing some of the most…

Discusses Bathurst Heights (Toronto) Secondary School's unique daytime program for undereducated adults. Reports 800 adults in a school population of 1,600; 400 of these adults are in mixed-age classes. Notes availability of day care and full-time municipal social worker services. Finds school has rebounded from a severe enrollment decline. (BRR)

Presents an approach through which social service agencies and community-based organizations can uncover Title VI violations in decision-making activities of policy and planning structures and in the decision making of supervisory staff and service providers. Discusses two categories of violations: disparity and exclusivity. (Author/GC)

The 143 videocassette programs offered by COSTI, a Toronto-based Italian community organization, by mail and on television, are listed. They are in the areas of ESL (78 lessons), social services, industrial training in the metal industry, and legal education. Program history, public reaction, and program evaluation are also reported. (MSE)

Reviews literature focusing on the effect of the high divorce rate on the family support system of older adults. Discusses possible short- and long-term effects of the demands and emotional consequences of divorce. Suggests implications for public policy. (Author/JAC)