"Family Policy offers concrete illustrative examples that bring the academic subject matter to life for students. Questions at the end of each chapter help students test their comprehension of the material, deepen their understanding of the subject matter, and spur classroom discussion."--BOOK JACKET.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

This best-selling text integrates the latest research and cutting-edge practice to make an evidence-based case for family policy. It uses examples from around the globe to explain how families support society and how policies support families. The book also moves beyond analysis to action with pragmatic processes and procedures for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of policies by viewing them through the lens of family impact. Highlights of the new edition include: Extensive revisions with many new references and policies that reflect recent changes in the economy, politics, and family forms and familes. Many new learning tools including guiding questions, more tables and figures, chapter glossaries, discussion questions, and chapter summaries. Enhanced global perspective with a new chapter (5) that features what policies nations have put in place to strengthen and support families. A new chapter (8) that views how family considerations can improve the effectiveness of policy decisions on issues such as early childhood care and education, health care, juvenile crime, long-term care, parent education, and welfare reform. A new chapter (11) on what the policy process and policymakers are really like including how a bill becomes a law. A new chapter (12) that provides a theoretical and empirical rationale for viewing issues through the family impact lens and what innovative tools and procedures exist for analyzing the family impact of organizations, policies, programs, and practices. Several chapters that review what professionals can do in the policy arena and how they can foster compromise and common ground. Updated web-based teaching materials including sample syllabi, classroom activities and assignments, daily lesson plans, test questions, instructor insights, video links, web resources, and more. Part 1 highlights what family policy is and why it’s important and how family life in the U.S. differs from other countries. Part 2 examines the contributions family considerations can bring to issues such as early childhood education, health care, juvenile crime, long-term care, and welfare reform. Part 3 explains why polarization has stymied progress in family policymaking and guidelines for fostering compromise. Insights are drawn from the history of family policy over the last century. Part 4 provides strategies for getting involved in family policymaking. It reviews: the processes policymaking institutions use to enact legislation; new techniques for assessing the family impact of policies and programs; strategies for building better public policies; and various professional roles and careers for building family policy. The book concludes with a summary of how and where we go from here. Intended for advanced undergraduate and/or graduate courses in family or social policy taught in human development and family studies, psychology, counseling, social work, sociology, public policy, home economics, consumer science, and education, researchers and practitioners alike appreciate this book’s integration of theory, research, and practice.

Family Diversity and Family Policy describes the dimensions of diversity which characterize the contemporary American family and discusses the implications for public policy and associated intervention programs linked to this diversity. The authors contend that if the programs and policies available to support families are to be most useful, they need to reflect the diversity of the families they intend to help. Beginning with a discussion of the historical and contemporary context of the American family, Family Diversity and Family Policy focuses on child poverty and argues that this topic may be usefully studied within the context of developmental systems theory. This theory systematically links the development of individuals to variations in their physical and social ecology, and is used as a framework for discussing: Contemporary challenges faced by parents charged with rearing adolescents, and the familial and societal issues that arise when the adolescents being reared are parents themselves. Current policy issues that arise from welfare debates in the United States and from recently-enacted welfare reform legislation. The importance for our nation of developing a comprehensive national youth policy. The authors draw implications for the design, delivery, and evaluation of diversity-sensitive policies and programs for families and youth, and offer a vision of how to link scholars, policy makers, and community members in multi-professional and multi-institutional collaborations promoting the positive development of American families and youth. Family Diversity and Family Policy is relevant to scholars and policy makers interested in human development, particularly of children and adolescents. In addition, it should be essential reading for practitioners and policy makers in government, private industry, and public and private social service organizations.

First, let me say that this edition is a wonderful expansion and thus an improvement on the first edition. The comprehensiveness of this new edition makes it a worthy addition to the literature and enables it to be the basis for an entire course. . . . I especially like the organization of the chapters vis-à-vis each other. Chapters 2, 3, and 5 will be especially beneficial to me and my students. They cover material that I covered in the past but I couldn′′t do a good job without having something for the students to read. I think this [focus and integration] is a strength of the book especially in chapters 2-7. Chapter 7 really ties things up nicely. Another strength of the book is its use of examples from recent policy debates to illustrate the concepts being discussed. In general, the text does a good job here [implications and applications] especially as the health care reform and welfare reform examples are included. --Ray Forgue, Chairman, Family Studies Department, University of Kentucky "I like this updated version of Understanding Family Policy and would definitely use it. . . . The approach taken in this edition has a more `universal′′ appeal in that it lays good groundwork to understanding family policy. . . . An excellent addition is the question section at the end of each chapter. It will help the student highlight important concepts covered and also provide a good start for discussion. . . . I think Dr. Zimmerman has done a great job of integrating the concepts, referring back to points made earlier, summarizing previous thoughts, and moving on to new ones. . . . The examples to illustrate points are good. . . . I have used Understanding Family Policy . . . and plan to use the new edition." --Catherine A. Solheim, Department of Family and Child Development, Auburn University "In the author′′s words, ′′this is a book about family policy and different ways of thinking about and its effects on families.′′ In this second edition, Shirley L. Zimmerman introduces new theoretical frameworks and applications that reinforce the link between family theory, policy, and practice. Also new to this edition are a glossary and a listing of study questions at the end of each chapter intended to stimulate discussion and to be adapted to readers′′ situations and work settings. The book, geared toward students in social work and family and policy studies, also provides examples from recent policy debates to illustrate its concepts." --Journal of Social Work Education Highly successful in its first edition, Understanding Family Policy, Second Edition introduces new theoretical frameworks as well as applications of theory. Shirley L. Zimmerman has incorporated the recent history of family policy and reinforced the link between theory and the everyday life experiences people have with the policy process. Also new to this volume are a glossary and study questions at the end of each chapter, useful for stimulating reflections and discussion on the book′′s twin subjects--families and family policy. Personal examples of policy research have been replaced with more generic and less time-bound examples. New topics include overriding issues: gender, race, ethnicity and culture, interest group theory, and other family frameworks for assessing family well-being including symbolic interaction, family stress, conflict, feminist and cultural theories. An excellent resource for offering conceptual tools for analyzing family problems, policies, and consequences, this second edition is essential for students and individuals in the areas of social work and family and policy studies.

To inform researchers and provide guidance to policy-makers inside and outside government who participate in federal decision-making affecting children, a study was conducted under the auspices of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families. Specific objectives of the study were (1) to develop a better understanding of how federal policies affecting children and their families are formulated, (2) to identify factors likely to influence the content of such policies in the near future, and (3) to offer observations concerning how participants in policy debates concerning children and their families can most effectively pursue their interests. In the first phase of the project the literature on policy determination was reviewed in order to examine existing theories of policy formation and to assess their potential as analytic frameworks. Then, three case studies of federal policy developments were made. Each of the case studies focused on one of the following areas: the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children; the federal interagency day care requirements; and the child care tax deduction/credit. The case studies were analyzed and a new framework was devised for understanding and participating in the policy-making process. Conclusions concerning the nature of federal policy-making affecting children and effective participation in the policy-making process are drawn. Related materials are appended at the conclusion of each case study. (RH)