In order to deal successfully with the changes and pressures placed upon families, article considered the extent government policies are helping or hurting families, and what kind of support services are available. (Author/RK)

Observations of conflictual family interaction have revealed that several distinctive behavior patterns tend to occur during the course of a family dispute. Patterns such as negative reciprocity, positive reciprocity, and coercion have been described and utilized as predictors of marital satisfaction and parent-child relations. This study examined…

Preventive programs designed to support and strengthen families with adolescents are being implemented in response to changes in American society and the nature of adolescence. This paper examines such programs by addressing these questions: (1) What are the primary functions of families in the raising of adolescents? (2) What factors support and…

This manual represents a state-of-the-art summary of approaches in child sexual abuse interventions, emphasizing interdisciplinary cooperation between professionals in successful case management. Although prepared specifically for the use of professionals in Region II of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services and containing a service…

A bilingual pamphlet containing practical law-related information for recent Russian Jewish immigrants to New York City, this document concerns family matters. Following a brief description of the Newcomer series, 9 questions are listed, each followed by an answer. Questions asked include a definition of the family; legal requirements for getting…

This paper describes a grassroots effort by one mid-sized midwestern community which led to the development of a voluntary cooperative network of community service providers offering court-referred divorce mediation services to highly conflicted divorcing families. Issues addressed in this paper are: (1) the difference between a court-referred…

This information analysis paper is based on a computer search of the ERIC database from November 1966 through March 1984, and on pertinent outside resources related to marriage and family counseling. A brief historical perspective of the field of marriage and family counseling is provided, and the differences and overlaps between family,…

This report is an evaluation of the Youth Crisis Center program run by the Wichita, Kansas Children's Service League to provide crisis counseling services to status offenders. Two major objective of the program were to reduce the number of adjudicated status offenders in Sedgwick County, Kansas; and to reduce placement of such youth in locked…

This paper examined the processes of problem-solving in a group of child abusing families and in a demographically matched comparison group of nonabusing families. Problem-solving was elicited through an interactional task that required family members to spend 10 minutes deciding upon an area of common disagreement in the family. Responses to the…

This document presents witness testimonies and prepared statements from the Congressional hearing called to examine the effects of homelessness on children and families. In their opening statements, Representatives George Miller and Dan Coats emphasize that homelessness threatens the physical health and safety of children, places them at risk of…

This document illustrates the development and presentation of a workshop given to the King County Alcohol Training Consortium in King County, Washington as a 4-hour training session. It is divided into five sections and a bibliography. The first section explains the purpose of the booklet. Section II concerns the Alcohol/Elderly Network and…

Family caregivers may face ethical dilemmas when deciding whether a parent or spouse should enter a nursing home. There is considerable evidence that decisions about institutionalization are usually stressful and difficult for family members. This study obtained qualitative and quantitative data from two studies conducted at the Margaret Blenkner…

Although research on children of alcoholics indicates that they are at high risk for later problem drinking, the etiological dynamics associated with this heightened risk status are not yet understood. This study compared the alcohol-related beliefs of subjects who possessed close relatives with alcohol problems with alcohol-related beliefs of…

The staged performance of oral history narratives scripted by interpreters/ethnographers has significant potential for instigating social change. Recent articles by Dwight Conquergood and Kristin Langellier provide the basis for merging ethnography, oral history and social action projects. Narratives from a 1984 farm crisis project illustrate this…