Current statistics on child abuse, neglect, poverty, and hunger shock the conscience—doubly so as societal structures set up to assist families are failing them. More than ever, the responsibility of the helping professions extends from aiding individuals and families to securing social justice for the larger community. With this duty in clear sight, the contributors to Child and Family Advocacy assert that advocacy is neither a dying art nor a lost cause but a vital platform for improving children's lives beyond the scope of clinical practice. This uniquely practical reference builds an ethical foundation that defines advocacy as a professional competency and identifies skills that clinicians and researchers can use in advocating at the local, state and federal levels. Models of the advocacy process coupled with first-person narratives demonstrate how professionals across disciplines can lobby for change. Among the topics discussed: Promoting children's mental health: collaboration and public understanding. Health reform as a bridge to health equity. Preventing child maltreatment: early intervention and public education Changing juvenile justice practice and policy. A multi-level framework for local policy development and implementation. When evidence and values collide: preventing sexually transmitted infections. Lessons from the legislative history of federal special education law. Child and Family Advocacy is an essential resource for researchers, professionals and graduate students in clinical child and school psychology, family studies, public health, developmental psychology, social work and social policy.

Six Steps to Successful Child Advocacy: Changing the World for Children (by Amy Conley Wright and Kenneth J. Jaffe) offers an interdisciplinary approach to child advocacy, nurturing key skills through a proven six-step process that has been used to train child advocates and create social change around the world. The approach is applicable for micro-advocacy for one child, mezzo-advocacy for a community or group of children, and macro-advocacy at a regional, national, or international level. This practical text offers skill-building activities and includes timely topics such as how to use social media for advocacy. Case studies of advocacy campaigns highlight applied approaches to advocacy across a range of issues, including child welfare, disability, early childhood, and education. Words of wisdom from noted child advocates from the U.S. and around the world, including a foreword from Dr. Jane Goodall, illustrate key concepts. Readers are guided through the process of developing a plan and tools for a real-life child advocacy campaign.

Kids in danger are treated instrumentally to promote the rehabilitation of their parents, the welfare of their communities, and the social justice of their race and tribe—all with the inevitable result that their most precious developmental years are lost in bureaucratic and judicial red tape. It is time to stop letting efforts to fix the child welfare system get derailed by activists who are concerned with race-matching, blood ties, and the abstract demands of social justice, and start asking the most important question: Where are the emotionally and financially stable, loving, and permanent homes where these kids can thrive? “Naomi Riley’s book reveals the extent to which abused and abandoned children are often injured by their government rescuers. It is a must-read for those seeking solutions to this national crisis.” —Robert L. Woodson, Sr., civil rights leader and president of the Woodson Center “Everyone interested in child welfare should grapple with Naomi Riley’s powerful evidence that the current system ill-serves the safety and well-being of vulnerable kids.” —Walter Olson, senior fellow, Cato Institute, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies

In Informed Advocacy in Early Childhood Care and Education: Making a Difference for Young Children and Families the author outlines six contexts for advocacy in the field of early childhood education -- individual child and family, advocacy for the profession, program-based advocacy, private-sector advocacy, political activism, and advocacy in the global arena. This practical guide describes the critical need for advocacy in the field of early care and extols the ethical responsibilities of all early child educators, as outlined in the Code of Ethical Conduct (NAEYC 2005). Organized into three parts, the text begins with advocacy in the field of early childhood education, discusses how to develop an advocacy agenda, and concludes with becoming an advocate for life. Additionally, a wide range of advocacy activities are addressed, including: choosing effective strategies, networking, advocating for program changes from within, navigating and being effective in the political process, working with the private sector to bring about positive changes for children, developing and managing an advocacy agenda, and working with the media.

Domestic Violence Advocacy: Complex Lives/Difficult Choices, Second Edition is a comprehensive and highly practical resource for anyone working with domestic violence victims. The essential elements and values of the victim-defined approach provide the foundation for a completely revised exploration of all victims’ perspectives and advocates’ roles. Authors Jill Davies and Eleanor Lyon draw on the far-reaching progress and increased knowledge of the field and delve deeply into the experiences of victims, their perspectives and decision-making, culture, and risks. Attentive to the real- world context of limited time, resources, and options for victims and for advocates, this enlightening text focuses on what is feasible and offers ideas for working within such constraints.

Aimed at parents of and advocates for special needs children, explains how to develop a relationship with a school, monitor a child's progress, understand relevant legislation, and document correspondence and conversations.