Provides guidelines from social work perspective on how social workers and health care professionals can provide bereavement counseling for families whose relatives have died in emergency room. Discusses providing family with privacy and accessibility; keeping family informed; using understandable terminology; speaking directly about death;…

Staff of the Sexual Abuse Treatment Program of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services concluded that the objective of family reconstitution was not appropriate to the entire client population being served. Family characteristics are reported that present obstacles to the goal of reunification of sexually abusive families. (Author/RH)

Psychological maltreatment may be too imprecise a concept on which to base involuntary intervention in families. Before intervening on these grounds alone, the state should find an actual or reasonably foreseeable injury which, if untreated, will create protracted difficulties for the child. (Author/LHW)

Examines the dynamics, rooted in early trauma, behind the problem of violence committed by children against foster and adoptive parents. Highlights the painful and often hidden dilemmas experienced by such parents and the failure of many child and family practitioners to alert themselves to the problem. Calls for development of therapeutic…

Case studies are presented that provide examples of both the familiar nature of the problem of career crisis and some possible counseling strategies. The three stages of family response to career crisis are identified: experiencing the impact of the change and sensing the potential for disruption to the family's life-style, transition, and…

The role of psychologists in helping families of the one in five Americans suffering from mental illness is described. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill has been active in bridge building between psychologists and families through enhanced communication and improvements in support systems. An agenda of 15 recommendations for further…

A substantial minority of United States' children are exposed to criminal violence. The breakdown of the family structure is believed to be the root of this social problem. Offered are solutions to the current upsurge of child crime. (SI)

This document reviews the problem of family violence, including child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse. The role of the Justice System is outlined with recommendations for law enforcement, for prosecutors, and for judges. Needs and recommendations for victim assistance are discussed, as are the issues of prevention and awareness, education and…

This collection of 11 articles focuses on various kinds of change that children face, and ways that adults can help nurture the development of coping strategies. Situations of change covered are crises of death, divorce, imprisonment, or hospitalization of family members, new environments such as entering school, the birth of a new sibling, and…

Duty related separation for military family members demands family support programs to help alleviate the stresses produced by separation. Not only is performance of the military member affected, but so is the emotional stability of the spouse and children. Three phases of emotion and behavior can be delineated in the sequence-reaction to the loss…

The use of crisis nursery care as a viable alternative for the consumer experiencing chronic and ongoing family crises calls for consideration of various programmatic and staffing issues. Combinations of family problems, including homelessness, substance abuse, incarceration, family violence, and chronic illness of a family member, may precipitate…

A response to ideas set forth in J. Brien O'Callaghan's article, "School-Based Collaboration with Families: An Effective Model for a Society in Crisis," this article applauds and discusses school-based collaboration. Areas of concern are unfounded diagnostic assumptions, questionable ethical behavior, and limited breadth and scope of suggested…