Other
This issue of a newsletter for child welfare workers in Colorado describes strategies for developing a rapport with families from other cultures, fathers, and teens. The articles review the importance of client-worker collaboration to the success of assessments and services. Professionals who are working with culturally diverse families are advised to learn about values and experiences from a variety of resources, including parents themselves. Cultural differences should be respected and integrated into treatment when appropriate. Techniques for including fathers in casework include…
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Journal Article This special issue focuses on teen parenthood and includes articles that address the developmental trajectory for children born to teenage parents, protective factors for teen parents and their children, intervention efforts to promote resiliency, and the experiences of infants of teenage parents. An introductory article discusses the risks associated with adolescent parenthood and community-based strategies to support young families. The following article reviews findings from large national studies on the effects of early care and intervention on the children of adolescents. The next…
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Journal Article Five focus groups substantially agreeed about the lack of paternal participation in child welfare services and the reasons for low paternal involvement. The groups had considerable disagreement about whether child welfare professionals should address this issue. Some caseworkers believed that all fathers and mothers should be treated identically with respect to services to be offered and time frames for services; other caseworkers thought that the special circumstances of some fathers, such as lack of child care experience, called for service approaches that differ from those for mothers.…
Family Law Clinics are a valuable source of information for parents, especially non-custodial fathers, to learn about legal rights and options regarding child support, custody, parenting time, arrearages, and other areas of family law. This checklist offers tips for hosting a successful clinic in the community. (Author abstract modified)
This book explores how dramatic changes in family welfare policies over the past decade have impacted the work, child care practices, and relationships of low-income mothers and fathers. Drawing upon several local, State, and national qualitative studies, the book explores how women and men are reading the policy signals, rules, and incentives as they attempt to raise their children and earn sufficient income to hold their families together. The text is divided into three themes centered around women’s roles as workers and mothers, policy effects on children, and the evolving role of fathers…
Many school children and their families are faced with multiple health, education, and social service needs that no single agency is in a position to address alone. One intervention strategy that many schools are now beginning to use in these situations is a case management approach which emanates from the schools’ concern for children who are failing in school due to a variety of interacting school, home, and community influences. The purpose of this publication is to introduce school personnel concerned with early intervention with potential school dropouts to a promising school-based…
Brief
This issue brief discusses State development and implementation of marriage education programs to strengthen families and improve outcomes for children. It describes the objectives of the programs and types of programs, and notes research results that indicate children raised in two-parent homes with low conflict levels have a lower risk of both academic and behavioral issues and exhibit greater stability in their own relationships as adults. Strategies States and localities can use to fund marriage education are explained, and lessons learned from State and local programs are shared. Lessons…
The Sure Start Plus pilot program was implemented in England to target support services to teen parents. The initiative was intended to reduce social isolation and improve parenting skills, health care, housing opportunities, and child care. Through a variety of models, Sure Start Plus offered individual advisors, advocacy, group therapy, and parenting classes. This executive summary presents an overview of the program and highlights the findings of an evaluation. The review indicated that crisis services, parenting activities, and health assistance were successful in helping the young women…
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Journal Article Young fathers (N = 143) ages 16 33 participated in an assessment of risk behaviors, service needs, and mental health issues upon entering a fatherhood program. Almost 70% were unemployed, 39% were school dropouts, 47% used alcohol, 40% had problems with the law, and 42% had been in jail. The most frequently reported mental health issues were problems related to relationships, neighborhood, family, tobacco use, police, and being a parent. Fathers also identified feeling states of anger, sadness/depression, nervousness/tension, helplessness, and aggression. Although risk behaviors and mental…
Encouraging and strengthening marriage continues to move up the US's social policy agenda. This analysis uses nationally representative data on cohabiting couples with children from the 2002 round of the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to assess the actual marriage penalties or bonuses facing these couples. In addition to examining the consequences of current (2003) federal tax laws, it also assesses the incentives that will be in place in 2008 as the final marriage-related provisions of 2001's tax reform are phased-in. The paper incorporates potential changes in transfer income…
