This report outlines state legislative initiatives to develop family-based child welfare public policy. Emphasis is placed on legislation to ensure that "reasonable efforts" are made to reduce the need for out-of-home placement of children. Also included is an update of state implementation of permanency planning initiatives related to agency…

Describes a cognitive-behavioral model for coping with stress that counselors can use as the basis for family assessment and personalized intervention. Discusses the model, assessment procedures, and appropriate counseling strategies. Examines translation of the model into clinical practice with families of handicapped young children. (Author/ABB)

Examines how family therapists can be more responsive to the unique needs and problems of deaf family members. Compares methods of training in communication for deaf children, addressing the conflicts that may accompany the adoption of a given method. Stresses the pivotal role of communication problems between hearing and deaf family members in…

The authors discuss trends in middle-aged adults' households, emphasizing phenomenon of adult children and elderly parents living with the "sandwiched" generation. Implications for home economists are presented. (CH)

A social support model for predicting the ease of transition into the motherhood role is presented. Four kinds of social network supports (relational, ideological, physical, and informational) and six social network agents (husband, friends, relatives, work associates, neighbors, and institutions) are considered. Policy and research implications…

Reviews literature on intervention programs for adolescent mothers. Focuses on specific goals: minimizing obstetrical complications, fostering positive parent-child interactions, reducing social isolation and maximizing support, and eliminating repeat out-of-wedlock pregnancies. Reports that all programs reviewed displayed moderate success, and…

Presents a middle-range theory that describes the potential impact of divorce on children, based on concepts from family stress theory. The proposed theoretical model is concerned especially with variations in the definition of the situation assigned to the crisis of divorce by children and custodial parents. (JAC)

It is estimated that 29 million American children have alcoholic parents. The author documents the unstable environment and psychological consequences suffered by these children, who are at great risk to become alcoholics themselves. (Editor)

Presents a conceptualization of the process of divorce as a crisis of family transition. Rather than dissolving the family, divorce culminates in its redefinition from a nuclear to a binuclear system. Continuation of meaningful bonds between parents and children reduces major stresses associated with the process of family change. (Author)

Discusses the controversy concerning "The Nurture Assumption," a book that suggests children are shaped by their peers more than their parents. The message runs counter to decades of child development research and recent findings that parents are crucial in children's emotional and intellectual development. This paper examines criticism of the…

The Bernard van Leer Foundation initiated a program in France entitled Relais Enfants-Parents to bring the children of prisoners to the forefront of social, political and judicial policy. The Relais Enfants-Parents program works to safeguard the psychological and emotional development of children by serving as a link between them and their…

After an opening series of vignettes which describe the frustrations of adults who care for aging and infirm parents, this pamphlet addresses the issue of aging parents and the dilemmas they pose for their children. In particular, it describes a model entitled "As Parents Grow Older" (APGO) that originated as a service for families of…

Professionals (N=228) were interviewed about their case experiences with neglect and abuse of the elderly. It was suggested that environmental contexts and situational problems trigger such behavior, and that the behavior is primarily based on flawed development of the perpetrator and disordered family relationships. (Author)

Reviews definitions, causal hypotheses, research, and information regarding incidence and treatment of child abuse. Discusses problems with screening, including poor validity of the measures utilized to predict abuse, invasion of family privacy, and the absence of adequate treatment and prevention programs. (GC)

Examines several writings by female Caribbean writers who address the formation of female identity, mothers as vehicles of culture and history, and the identity confusion that comes when this function is removed. The barriers between blacks and whites under slavery and colonialism and how these conditions affected female identity development in…