The Prevention Initiative Demonstration Project, funded by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), is a community-specific strategy delivered through eight regional networks designed to address the full spectrum of community-based prevention. This article summarizes a strong and meaningful pattern of improvements…

The poor quality and quantity of data collected in tribal communities today reflects a lack of true community participation and commitment. This is especially problematic for evaluation studies, in which the needs and desires of the community should be the central focus. This challenge can be met by emphasizing indigenous methods and voice. The…

The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) provides a framework for achieving positive outcomes for youth and families served in residential and community programs. Founded on core principles, an emerging evidence base, and acknowledged best practices, the BBI emphasizes collaboration and coordination between providers, families, youth, advocates, and…

Steps in establishing a community-supported foster group home are described. Efforts to begin the group home, now in its fifth year of existence, included community education, community organization, and work with individual community members. (Author/DB)

Much controversy exists regarding the effectiveness of residential treatment. Recently, emerging research has demonstrated that community-based residential treatment has more positive long-term outcomes for youth. This article describes a community-based program that was implemented at a residential treatment agency serving youth. Targeted…

In 2005 the Texas 79th legislature passed Senate Bill 6, which included mandates to address disproportionality. This article will describe how the Texas Department of Family Protective Services in collaboration with Casey Family Programs' Texas State Strategy systems improvement initiative is addressing disproportionality statewide through…

Notes that community youth development is a challenging approach to youth work that focuses on the incorporation of new values at the practice, management, and community levels. Explores the implementation of a community youth development approach within the context of learning organization theory, and describes experiences of three youth-focused…

Matching Needs and Services (MNS) is a practice tool intended to help people who work with vulnerable children use rigorously assembled information on needs as a guide to design, implement, and evaluate more-effective services. To do this, MNS focuses on needs but links them to outcomes and thresholds before dealing with the services to achieve…

The squatter settlements in Kuala Lumpur exhibit a high incidence of communicable diseases, teenage pregnancies, and psychological and familial stress. The Sang Kancil Intervention Program responds to this situation by providing preschool education, maternal and child health care clinics, and activities that generate income for low-income…

Critically reviews conventional community education programs on child abuse/neglect and describes a practice model used by the Supportive Child/Adult Network (SCAN), which is said to be effective because it encompasses specific goals and strategies. (Author/CM)

Describes a project at Fort Riley, Kansas, combining military, community and private resources and stressing parent education and problems of isolation and self-concept. (SS)

Describes the services provided by the Family Stress Consultation Team, an Illinois community-based consultation group which has an experimental, multidisciplinary approach to the handling of child abuse and neglect cases. (CM)

Roca, Inc., a grassroots human development and community organization, has adopted the peacemaking circle as a tool in its relationship building with youth, communities, and formal systems. Circles are a method of communication derived from aboriginal and native traditions. In Massachusetts, the Department of Social Services and the Department of…

This paper describes an innovative service delivery model to reduce the number of children entering the child welfare system. Point of Engagement (POE) is a collaborative family- and community-centered approach initiated in Compton, a regional office in Los Angeles County that serves south Los Angeles, a predominantly African American and…

Traces the history of self-help in the African American community, with emphasis on services and programs for children. Claims that the traditions of self-help are very much alive in the African American community, and are manifest in a range of activities. Illustrates contemporary models of self-help from the example of one adoption agency. (MOK)