This guidebook is designed to help parents, teachers, day care professionals, nannies, and others in the childcare arena recognize signs of distress in children's drawings. The handbook is intended for those with little or no knowledge of art therapy. Information the book provides is a compilation of indicators that commonly appear in the drawings…

Four fact sheets relevant to children's emotional well being are presented in this document. The first fact sheet, "Responding to Child Sexual Abuse" presents guidelines for responding to children who have been sexually abused. Information is given for reporting abuse to the local Child Protection Agency. Also discussed are issues regarding…

Many teenagers engage in behaviors that increase their risk of becoming infected with HIV. This document is a compilation of information about AIDS and HIV Infection, and provides suggestions for parents and other adults in discussing AIDS/HIV with young people. Basic facts are outlined, including what AIDS is and how HIV infection causes AIDS;…

The provision of respite services for families with adolescents who are at risk of abusing or neglecting the young person is discussed, with attention to program design, services to parents, and services to adolescents. Respite programs can provide an important resource for families that lack sufficient supports to deal with the difficult period…

Children need to make decisions to learn responsibility, but when they choose a destructive behavior, such as drug or alcohol use, then the consequences can be severe. This program concentrates on helping parents prevent their children from making harmful decisions. The workbook was designed for use with classroom instruction and the parent…

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 resource book was created to address many of the areas that place children at risk for educational and social failure. It consists of handouts and fact sheets that educators and psychologists can photocopy and distribute to parents, teachers, and other educators so that they can more broadly understand and address some of the situations that…

This module is part of a training program for foster parents and foster care workers offered at Colorado State University. The module's learning objectives include: (1) identifying the needs of those involved in the foster care process; (2) examining the decisions involved in placing a child in foster care; (3) focusing on the family in which the…

This document consists of Part 2 of a book of readings on at-risk youth designed to provide information and strategies for counselors, teachers, parents, administrators, social workers, and others who work with youth at risk. Part 2 contains five readings on causal factors related to at-risk behaviors. "The Harmful Effects of Dysfunctional Family…

Intended for use by health education professionals, teachers, parents and others interested in the health status and health risk behaviors of young persons in Maine, this report describes the results of three concurrent studies of adolescent health. Data were obtained by written and telephone surveys taken from parents and adolescents in Maine.…

Intended for use by parents of infants, toddlers and preschoolers, this guide presents, in question and answer format, basic information about early intervention and special education services. Questions about services for the period from birth through 2 years include the following: "What are early intervention services?""What is an…

This document consists of Part 3 of a book of readings on at-risk youth designed to provide information and strategies for counselors, teachers, parents, administrators, social workers, and others who work with youth at risk. It includes six readings, each dealing with a specific behavior that places a young person at risk. "The Secret and…

This book is a resource and activity guide for early childhood educators and care providers that helps to enhance the development of early and emerging literacy skills in young children. Its philosophy is based on the premise that both language and literacy development begin at birth and that educators and caretakers of young children have a…

This report summarizes the findings and recommendations from the Children's Policy Project, which examined the child welfare system in Illinois. The report: (1) outlines the project's findings about the difficulties faced by existing child welfare services; (2) proposes ways to improve existing arrangements; (3) examines the fundamental problems…

The procedural safeguards required by the Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities Program (Part C) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are intended to protect the interests of families with infants and toddlers with special needs and of the early intervention system. Early intervention system personnel are legally obligated to…