Coyle and Pinkerton identify gaps in the care leaving system in Northern Ireland regarding social work training and meeting the challenges of transitioning from care. The primary focus of this article is to provide a perspective of care and leaving care which could contribute to social work education and practice in these areas. Framed within a…

Historically there has been a huge gulf between families and residential programs serving their children. This contradicted classic studies showing that family involvement is the cornerstone for successful outcomes with children in out-of-home care. But in spite of frequent early calls for such inclusion, the family was historically considered to…

Current federal legislation identifies three goals for the child welfare system: safety, permanence, and family and child well-being. Unfortunately, child well-being becomes subordinate to the more easily achievable and measurable goal of permanence--returning children to the biological family, facilitating an adoption, or placing them with…

Since the early 1980s, service providers and area agencies on aging, that is, the aging network, have developed a number of strengths as they built a community-based long-term-care system in most states. Many area agencies and providers now have the capacity to assess the needs of older persons, identify appropriate services, and administer…

In this paper we argue that video recording of actual practice should be a central tool for organisations attempting to improve services for people with learning disabilities. Since an important site for the disempowerment of service-users is in everyday, mundane interactions with service staff, an approach to staff development is needed which…

Discusses postresidential school placement and its importance to the aftercare adjustment of adolescents. Focuses especially on types of support needed for the educational success of the former client. (CM)

Based on evidence from previous research, discusses the kinds of services and service delivery systems required if deinstitutionalization programs for the chronically mentally ill are to succeed. Recommends that more resources be allocated to this population and that changes be made in the use of existing resources. (Author/MJL)

The place of private residential programs in the care of individuals with disabilities is discussed. Problems often associated with residential centers are considered and the Woods School, a private institution for handicapped children and adults, is described as an example of the positive benefits of private institutional care. (PHR)

This paper describes parents' feelings, emotions, and concerns as they contemplate the future of their mentally retarded children after the parents' death. The paper notes that such parents think of death with more fear than parents of nondisabled children and that residential institutions must communicate to parents that their children will be…

In this article Claire Hardman reflects on her work on behaviour management in two Romanian orphanages. Quite apart from the intrinsic interest of the topic, the article serves as a reminder of the number of professionals in this country who regularly take time out to work abroad in unfamiliar and often challenging circumstances and who come back…

Explains the concept of corporate legal guardianship, which allows a single legal entity to serve as guardian to thousands of clients at one time. Discusses the concept's broad applicability to classes of people other than the developmentally disabled and shows its potential as a unique interdisciplinary approach. (Author/ABB)

Argues that Kohlberg's theory of moral development and his methods of moral education have special relevance to residential treatment because they (1) provide a framework for understanding the moral decision-making process at various levels of development, and (2) encourage child care professionals of any theoretical or clinical persuasion to…

Describes a research model designed to investigate the shift in the care delivery site from the acute care institution to the home and community. Transitional care may soon become familiar jargon in community health care. (JOW)

The article relates the nursing home component of a nationwide study of public mental retardation/developmental disabilities spending to requirements of Public Law 100-203. Approximately 51,000 individuals with developmental disabilities resided in nursing homes in 1989 of which 40 percent may need to be relocated under P.L. 100-203. (Author/DB)

Discusses issues related to measuring outcomes of social-work interventions with children. Emphasizes the need for regular, carefully timed assessments. Argues that approach and perspective differences obscure relationships between program and child outcomes and that assessing family-services outcomes raises accountability questions. Suggests that…