This paper is a description and an evaluation of the Families First program in Sydney, Australia. The Families First program was set up to provide innovative family-centered early intervention services to families with young children with disabilities from birth to school age living within the South-Western Metropolitan Health Region. The program…

This address was delivered at a conference held at the Columbia University (New York City) Graduate School of Journalism. The decision about abortion, it was stated, involves more than the particular woman who is pregnant with an unwanted fetus. Because of the impact of unwanted children on education, crime and violence, and public costs, the…

This paper presents results of a preliminary study which evaluated medical birth data as potential predictors of developmental outcome, and developed and tested an instrument designed for this purpose. Forty low birthweight children, all of whom had experienced neonatal intraventricular hemorrhage, were evaluated at school age (66 months) on the…

There is an alarming trend in homelessness: children aged 17 and younger are the most rapidly growing group of the homeless; families continue to be a growing group of the homeless; and many people who are homeless were raised or have lived in the suburbs. Homelessness is no longer an inner-city phenomenon. Three homeless youth were interviewed…

In recent years, demand has increased for the development and implementation of a better overall human service delivery system for the United State's at-risk children and their families. Critics condemn the current system as being fragmented, too narrowly focused, beset with bureaucratic red tape and harmful restrictive regulations, difficult to…

A meta-analysis of home visiting programs (K = 12, N = 2869) examined differences in the effects of home visitor programs for at-risk families on maternal behavior. Studies selected included only peer-reviewed publications and evaluations with a control group design. Although effect sizes varied, programs with more frequent visitation had higher…

Family support and parenting programs exist for parents who need help in acquiring the support, resources, and skills that encourage positive child development. Noting increasing demands for program accountability, this paper identifies 12 recommendations for the future of family support and parenting programs, based on the field's history of…

This paper offers a method for evaluating protective factors in young children at risk for emotional and/or behavioral disorders. It reviews the development, standardization, validation, and use of a new, nationally standardized measure of within child protective factors, the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA). The DECA evaluates the…

This paper serves as a basic introduction to the problems associated with minority participation in postsecondary education. It focuses on those educational factors identified in the literature as having an important effect on postsecondary participation by minorities. The paper shows that the problem of minority participation is a far-reaching…

This study investigated the characteristics and beliefs of Head Start teachers and teacher aides and the classroom structural dimensions that are associated with Head Start classroom quality. The quality of classroom teaching practices was assessed using the Assessment Profile for Early Childhood Programs: Research Version. Teachers completed the…

The paper describes application of an interactive model to providing services for young children with special needs being mainstreamed in community day care programs. In this model, the resource consultant coordinates service delivery in interactions with: (1) the child and family; (2) early childhood educators; and (3) resource specialists. The…

Outcomes of the Orchard Plan, an experiment designed to reorganize funding to support new models of instructional delivery, are described in this report. Basic elements of the program include an extended school calendar; a reorganization of categorical funding into intersession enrichment courses for at-risk students; a reduction in class size…

This paper describes the ethical and methodological problems associated with studying prosocial moral reasoning of street children and children of low and high SES living with their families, and problems associated with studying sexual attitudes and behavior of street children and their knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS.…

This conference paper discusses the results of a study that investigated the effects of a mentor service on 30 children with severe emotional disturbances and considered to be at extreme risk for out-of-home placement. The mentors provided regular, consistent, face-to-face and telephone contact with each child for five hours per week. The mentors…

Noting that the kindergarten year is important in establishing competencies critical to children's success and achievement in school, and the lack of information on how children make the transition to kindergarten, this study examined differences in parental reports of children's adjustment behaviors for a large, nationally representative sample…