Discusses the role of mental health and social services personnel in helping patients apply for recertification for Supplementary Security Income (SSI) benefits. Describes the appeal process and provides guidelines for professionals. (JAC)

Results of two studies of social learning treatment indicate that this model of family intervention is an effective alternative to out-of-home placements with this population for approximately 50 percent of typical child protection services caseloads. The cost benefits of social learning treatments are discussed along with potentially useful…

Describes the New York State Preventive Services Demonstration Project, designed to prevent the need for foster care by providing counseling and other services to families. (SB)

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau launched the State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) Initiative to promote the healthy development and school readiness of young children. This brief is a planning tool designed to assist states in conducting strategic planning throughout the initiative. It is organized into seven steps as…

Random assignment experiments are widely used in the United States to test the effectiveness of new social interventions. This paper discusses several major welfare-to-work experiments, highlighting their evaluation from simple "black box" tests of single interventions to multi-group designs used to compare alternative interventions or…

An attempt is made to distinguish between "social work service" and "social work method or practice: by incorporating a firm definition of service as the first component of the social worker's practice theory model, an increase in the quality of the helping process as well as increasing accountability is expected. (CS)

A foster care program for children who are mentally retarded is an alternative to institutional placement. A special conviction of Retarded Infants Services (RIS) has been that families with a retarded child should especially be sought as foster families. (CS)

Explores the relationship between university knowledge and national problems. (GB)

This article describes the crisis intervention techniques used by the San Fernanco Valley Child Guidance Clinic to help families deal with the traumatic events experienced in the 1971 earthquake in California. (Author)

Participants in the Social Service Technology Program for disadvantaged adults are salaried case aide trainees while they earn a 2-year college degree. (MS)

Describes a program of training for young men to fill a para-professional position in the growing field of social services. The program provides training in human relations, basic skills, and on-the-job techniques. Training Technology is a quarterly supplement to Educational Technology Magazine. (GR)

New York's Commissioner for Child Development heads an agency with a yearly budget of $101.2 million and a staff of 450. (RY)

Argues that effort should be made by public agencies to keep abreast of new constitutional cases as well as accepted procedures and practices in the community. In this way, agencies will minimize the likelihood of having to answer for their actions as defendants in a lawsuit brought by a present or former client. (MP)