This policy brief reports on a study of how families and agencies cope with growing waiting periods for community services for adults who have mental retardation or developmental disabilities (MR/DD). Preliminary information looks at reasons for long waits, characteristics of families waiting for services, and impact of adult members with MR/DD on…

Two surveys, one qualitative and one quantitative, were conducted of the opinions and experiences of New York State parents of children with learning delays and disabilities regarding parental labor force participation, child care options, and preferences in state policies. A total of 141 parents responded to the quantitative survey and 210 to the…

This report presents findings of a Minnesota study group which reviewed the costs and structures under which developmental disabilities services are provided. The group conducted a series of town meetings throughout the state and concluded with a toll-free call-in day. Six themes emerged from the meetings: (1) "We have a lot to be proud of…

Special Training for Exceptional People (STEP) is a private, nonprofit agency serving children with developmental disabilities (0-22 years) and their families in the south-central section of Montana, encompassing Billings and a Crow Indian Reservation. One of the services provided by STEP is specialized family care, to prevent placement out of…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of a federally supported program to provide services for children with deaf-blindness in Missouri. The project focused on the development, implementation, and evaluation of a four-component statewide comprehensive service delivery model to serve 193 deaf-blind children and youth through:…

This final report describes the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Home/School Support project, an Oregon project which attempted to decrease stress in parents caring for school-aged children with TBI and to provide support to schools serving students with TBI. During its 3 years of development, the project involved over 50 families of children, ages…

This monograph describes Families First, a family-designed system of mental health care for children in Essex County, New York. Philosophical principles of family-driven service delivery are outlined and illustrated with comments from participants. The planning that went into developing the Families First program is described, including initial…

This report describes a model designed to provide family-centered, community-based coordinated services for families and their children with chronic health care needs. The model, which was implemented to serve 208 children over a 5-year period, is based on three key concepts: families should have the choice to receive services in their homes and…

This collection of papers presented at a 1996 conference on children's mental health focuses on models to improve service delivery. Papers have the following titles and authors: (1) "Empirical Evaluation of an Alternative to Hospitalization for Youth Presenting Psychiatric Emergencies" (Scott W. Henggeler); (2) "An Experimental Study of the…