Steps in establishing a community-supported foster group home are described. Efforts to begin the group home, now in its fifth year of existence, included community education, community organization, and work with individual community members. (Author/DB)

Matching Needs and Services (MNS) is a practice tool intended to help people who work with vulnerable children use rigorously assembled information on needs as a guide to design, implement, and evaluate more-effective services. To do this, MNS focuses on needs but links them to outcomes and thresholds before dealing with the services to achieve…

Traces the history of self-help in the African American community, with emphasis on services and programs for children. Claims that the traditions of self-help are very much alive in the African American community, and are manifest in a range of activities. Illustrates contemporary models of self-help from the example of one adoption agency. (MOK)

Describes Maryland's extensive network of day care centers for severely mentally retarded children. Specific characteristics, stipulated for all the programs, are reviewed. (Author/AJ)

Neighborhood resistance occurs frequently when a group home program is implemented in a community. In this article major variables associated with a neighborhood are explored and strategies effective for minimizing neighborhood opposition are analyzed. (Author/SE)

Demonstrates how one community family life education agency deals with pressures for and against sex education, describing the agency's philosophy and curriculum and providing suggestions for strategic planning. (MP)

Describes a workshop which focused on preparing adults for a family life education program in their community. (CM)

Describes the Community Systems initiative, a collaborative project underway in Ontario to involve neighborhood residents, broad community networks, government, and nongovernmental organizations in the support of children and families. The initiative's goal is to improve the well-being of children, youth, and their families by finding ways to use…