The international community is facing the pressure of aging societies. In the United States of America, we will shortly be facing the aging of baby boomers, a dramatically large population expected to peak as senior citizens in 2030 at 70 million. Global societies are facing a crisis: lack of adequately trained and emotionally oriented personnel…

There is increasing awareness that domestic violence (DV) and child maltreatment often overlap and that there are significant negative consequences to women and children who are victims in the same families. The present study contains data from a participatory evaluation of a multisite national demonstration project on family violence (the…

Since the first child care Quality Rating System (QRS) was implemented in Oklahoma 11 years ago (in 1998), 16 additional statewide systems have been launched and numerous states are piloting or developing a QRS (Zaslow, Tout, & Martinez-Beck, forthcoming). As QRS stakeholders across the nation look ahead to the next decade, it is important to take…

A longitudinal assessment of interagency cooperation was conducted as part of a research project designed to monitor the implementation and development of the Smart Start collaboration process. Telephone interviews were conducted with key informants from organizations providing services to children, and the resulting qualitative, quantitative, and…

Issues in interagency collaboration and the experiences of a collaborative effort in a rural, economically depressed county of Colorado are discussed in this paper. The first section reviews the concepts of cooperation and collaboration as they relate to interagency activities and offers a literature review. The second section presents the…

There is currently movement internationally towards the integration of services for young children and their families, incorporating childcare, education, health and family support. Shifting service provision towards partnership between services, and between these services and families, has been the subject of policy formation at various levels.…

New Futures, founded in 1987, is a multicity foundation-funded initiative designed to reduce the school dropout rate, teen pregnancies, and youth unemployment. The foundation's expectations for a 5-year agenda and program strategies are described in this implementation guide. Based on institutional change, the project utilizes community…

Many service systems have fundamentally reoriented services by creating infrastructures that link resources from many parts of the community. This paper reviews 50 comprehensive community-based initiatives and describes their costs, results, and methods of finance. The overview defines comprehensive community-based initiatives and outlines…

This research analyzes the impact of the Thai government's activities to promote educational opportunities for people of the northern hill tribes. In addition to interviews with government and nongovernmental organization staff, field surveys were conducted in hill tribe villages. The introductory chapter provides background information on the…

Analyzed five-year experience of neighborhood-based, volunteer geriatric health outreach program developed by consortium of health and social agencies. Found outreach program enhanced network of natural community helpers through organized program in which Street Health Workers provided support to older adults and families. (Author)

This investigation compared Extension educators' perceptions of community readiness, knowledge of prevention science, and experience with community collaborations with the perceptions of community human service professionals. First, Cooperative Extension System (CES) educators and human service professionals were found to hold similar perceptions…

A treatment design plan and its outcome in the case of an individual living in a state which has mandated services to handicapped children from birth through age 20 is offered. The plan's success is related to unique factors showing that young, handicapped children can be serviced adequately in the schools. (CE)

There is a need for a multiprofession approach to human services undergraduate programs. Because most human service workers in entry level positions function as "teachers," teacher education programs should participate in interdisciplinary approaches and cooperate in developing the best possible curriculum and faculty. (CJ)

This article describes the Interagency Planning and Support Project, which aimed to improve coordination among agencies serving young children with disabilities and their families by integrating disparate service documents and planning processes. Analysis of Collaborative Support Plan data on 34 families shows the approach was successful in…

Universities must devise and sustain preparation programs that will instill the skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to guide intercollaborative work. Challenges arise in four overlapping arenas: the external environment (including key accrediting and credentialing bodies), the intellectual core of the professional disciplines, faculty…