Research of the Child Welfare League of America is reviewed. This research aims to develop guidelines to assist the child welfare agency practitioner in deciding when the needs of children who come to the agency's attention can be better met by service in their own homes or through placement away from home. Initially data were collected from…

Addressed to practitioners working with adoptive families, this book examines the question: How do professionals help children and families make transracial adoptions and foster care placements work? The book describes specific ways to ensure that children develop positive racial and cultural identities and how professionals can better serve…

Provides a framework for understanding the cultural, social, political, and economic factors that affect decision making when working with ethnically and racially diverse families in the child welfare system. Describes external factors affecting the decision- making process, including community environment, agency structure, and family…

Consisting of five pages, the information sheet offers suggestions to follow when making a home visit in a suspected case of child abuse or neglect, lists the kinds of physical and behavioral forms and indicators of abuse and neglect to look for, and provides suggested responses to commonly made remarks and questions of the client during the home…

Describes a program in which children not legally free for adoption are placed with foster families committed to eventually adopting them although aware that the children may not become legally free. (BRT)

This handbook, prepared as part of a technical assistance program to the states funded through the Children's Bureau of the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families, is a reference designed to provide caseworkers with both a conceptual framework and practical methodology to secure permanent placements for children who are in foster care.…

Noting that child welfare professionals can improve the quality and integrity of the services they provide if they develop ethical decision making skills, this book provides child welfare administrators and caseworkers with a framework for assessing ethical dilemmas, making sound ethical decisions, and delivering services with integrity to…

A study of 293 child abuse reports was conducted to determine if the age of the abused child affected caseworker attention. It was found that younger children received more overall services and caseworker activity and that the substantiated cases of younger children were more likely to be kept open for continuing caseworker involvement. (CR)

Describes the principal features of a multisystems approach to family preservation that involves placement prevention and permanency planning. The approach is being taught to family preservation workers in Illinois. Discussion concerns the approach's theoretical premises, tasks, significant assessment areas, and ways of understanding the approach.…

Explores the ways in which shifting meanings of childhood and constructions of sexually abused children and the structuring of team practice pose problems for multidisciplinary team members. Argues that understanding child sexual abuse and developing community-based practice approaches must be informed by broader perspectives. Suggests a model of…

A three-phase model for decision making at intake for both protective services and voluntary child welfare services is described in this manual. These phases include (1) reception, in which decisions are made as to whether a case seems appropriate for agency services; (2) investigation and problem assessment, which involves assessments regarding…

One of seven reports in the Innovations in Protective Services series, this document reports on the development of a model of case management that clarified what is expected from Child Protective Service (CPS) specialists. By conducting a literature review, studying the role of the CPS case manager, and developing a case management model, the Case…

This report describes a demonstration project in which service contracts were used as part of the caseworker approach to increase the effectiveness of foster care for children. The service contracts involved formal or informal agreements defining expectations for performance on the part of the children in foster care, the foster parents, and the…

Describes development of guidelines to expand understanding of and compliance with both the reasonable efforts requirement of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act 1980 (P.L. 96-272) and active efforts requirement of the Indian Child Welfare Act 1978 (P.L. 95-608) to help keep Indian families together. (Author/BB)

In helping disturbed, deprived children and their families, an agency's concept of its treatment task is of vital importance. An effective approach focuses on an agency's functioning as an extended family, and assuming a parenting role. (Editor)