This policy brief examines who is taking care of preschoolers of employed mothers in rural America. While most rural families choose home-based child care (such as relatives or informal nonrelated care providers), formal care (such as in day care centers) has positive benefits to a child's development. The brief recommends that programs are needed that either make formal care more affordable and accessible in rural communities, or that train home-based care providers to provide quality care. (Contains 2 figures, 1 table, and 11 endnotes.).

"While most mothers or pre-school aged children are challenged in finding and securing adequate child care, research suggests that those living in rural areas have fewer child care choices, with center-based care being the least commonly available option." --[P. 1]

This volume is directed toward research to practice issues related to partnering with families of children birth through age 5. This monograph and the next monograph focuses on family and school involvement issues in two age categories. This sixth volume analyzes family involvement practices across a variety of settings and programs at the early childhood level. The seventh monograph in this series addresses research and practices related to family–school issues in middle and secondary schools. The chapters address, to varying degrees, five themes based on the principles of familycentered partnerships: 1. Recognizing and respecting one anther’s knowledge and expertise; 2. Sharing information through two-way communication; 3. Sharing power and decision making; 4. Acknowledging and respecting diversity; and 5. Creating networks of support The monograph supports the accomplishment of these goals as a whole by providing important insights about exemplary programs and promising practices, informed by current research. Also it highlights policies and theoretical perspectives relevant to these aims. Individual chapters offer a variety of practical strategies and recommendations that families, early childhood practitioners, policymakers, and researchers can use to enhance their knowledge and strengthen their skills for partnering effectively.

Caregivers living in rural areas face daunting obstacles. In addition to the isolation and anxiety that many caregivers across the country experience, rural caregivers must also cope with limited access to uncoordinated resources and severe shortages of trained professionals. Although many research, policy, and practice upgrades have been made in response to caregivers’ general concerns, the specific problems facing the rural caregiver have been less frequently addressed. Focusing on what is known as well as what is needed – and zeroing in on major subgroups within this diverse population – Rural Caregiving in the United States replaces misconceptions of the nonurban experience with real-life issues, findings, and solutions. For example, this pioneering volume: Covers a broad range of issues unique to rural caregiving, including research, education/training, policy, and practice. Identifies specific needs related to education, training, and support for rural caregivers. Examines both the positive and negative effects of rural living on caregivers as well as patients. Discusses the importance of in-home care in lieu of scarcer forms of for-profit care (e.g., hospitals). Addresses not only discrepancies between rural and urban health care systems but racial and ethnic disparities within rural health care. Explores the advantages of using information technology to address rural health care limitations. Rural Caregiving in the United States offers uniquely knowledgeable perspectives to researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in the caregiving fields, including psychology, social work, nursing, gerontology and geriatrics, medicine, public health, public policy, and educational policy.

Family Poverty in Diverse Contexts addresses the context of poverty in the United States and focuses on poverty issues that family members must confront as they move through the life course. This edited collection provides a unique perspective that draws together macro and micro research about how poverty affects families throughout their lives, increasing risks and reducing opportunities at every stage. Individual chapters emphasize the context of poverty in the United States, then go on to examine specific life cycle stages and what happens when poverty intersects with family concerns. Contributing authors are respected experts in their fields and represent a broad range of disciplines and perspectives including child development, community health, education, family studies, gerontology, disability, public policy, social work and sociology. Family Poverty in Diverse Contexts includes a range of pedagogical features to enhance learning such as exercises and discussions relating to each chapter, which will encourage readers to think critically and apply the knowledge to their own lives. It will interest students, academics and researchers of sociology, family studies, social work and health as well as other related disciplines.

"A compilation of policy-relevant research by a multidisciplinary group of scholars on the state of families in rural America in the twenty-first century. Examines the impact of economic restructuring on rural Americans and provides policy recommendations for addressing the challenges they face"--Provided by publisher.

Families, communities and societies influence children's learning and development in many ways. This is the first handbook devoted to the understanding of the nature of environments in child development. Utilizing Urie Bronfenbrenner's idea of embedded environments, this volume looks at environments from the immediate environment of the family (including fathers, siblings, grandparents and day-care personnel) to the larger environment including schools, neighborhoods, geographic regions, countries and cultures. Understanding these embedded environments and the ways in which they interact is necessary to understand development.