This up-to-date and comprehensive resource by leaders in child welfare is the first book to reflect the impact of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997. The text serves as a single-source reference for a wide array of professionals who work in children, youth, and family services in the United States-policymakers, social workers, psychologists, educators, attorneys, guardians ad litem, and family court judges& mdash;and as a text for students of child welfare practice and policy. Features include: * Organized around ASFA's guiding principles of well-being, safety, and permanency * Focus on evidence-based "best practices" * Case examples integrated throughout * First book to include data from the first round of National Child and Family Service Reviews Topics discussed include the latest on prevention of child abuse and neglect and child protective services; risk and resilience in child development; engaging families; connecting families with public and community resources; health and mental health care needs of children and adolescents; domestic violence; substance abuse in the family; family preservation services; family support services and the integration of family-centered practices in child welfare; gay and lesbian adolescents and their families; children with disabilities; and runaway and homeless youth. The contributors also explore issues pertaining to foster care and adoption, including a focus on permanency planning for children and youth and the need to provide services that are individualized and culturally and spiritually responsive to clients. A review of salient systemic issues in the field of children, youth, and family services completes this collection.

Adolescenceâ€"beginning with the onset of puberty and ending in the mid-20sâ€"is a critical period of development during which key areas of the brain mature and develop. These changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity mark adolescence as a period of opportunity to discover new vistas, to form relationships with peers and adults, and to explore one's developing identity. It is also a period of resilience that can ameliorate childhood setbacks and set the stage for a thriving trajectory over the life course. Because adolescents comprise nearly one-fourth of the entire U.S. population, the nation needs policies and practices that will better leverage these developmental opportunities to harness the promise of adolescenceâ€"rather than focusing myopically on containing its risks. This report examines the neurobiological and socio-behavioral science of adolescent development and outlines how this knowledge can be applied, both to promote adolescent well-being, resilience, and development, and to rectify structural barriers and inequalities in opportunity, enabling all adolescents to flourish.

After-school programs, scout groups, community service activities, religious youth groups, and other community-based activities have long been thought to play a key role in the lives of adolescents. But what do we know about the role of such programs for today's adolescents? How can we ensure that programs are designed to successfully meet young people's developmental needs and help them become healthy, happy, and productive adults? Community Programs to Promote Youth Development explores these questions, focusing on essential elements of adolescent well-being and healthy development. It offers recommendations for policy, practice, and research to ensure that programs are well designed to meet young people's developmental needs. The book also discusses the features of programs that can contribute to a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. It examines what we know about the current landscape of youth development programs for America's youth, as well as how these programs are meeting their diverse needs. Recognizing the importance of adolescence as a period of transition to adulthood, Community Programs to Promote Youth Development offers authoritative guidance to policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and other key stakeholders on the role of youth development programs to promote the healthy development and well-being of the nation's youth.

This volume tackles key issues in the changing nature of family life from a global perspective, and is essential reading for those studying and working with families. Covers changes in couple relationships and the challenges these pose; parenting practices and their implications for child development; key contemporary global issues, such as migration, poverty, and the internet, and their impact on the family; and the role of the state in supporting family relationships Includes a stellar cast of international contributors such as Paul Amato and John Coleman, and contributions from leading experts based in North Africa, Japan, Australia and New Zealand Discusses topics such as cohabitation, divorce, single-parent households, same-sex partnerships, fertility, and domestic violence Links research and practice and provides policy recommendations at the end of each chapter

This volume is derived from the conference on Training Clinical Child Psychologists held in South Carolina. The goal of the meeting was to identify, examine, and assess the major influences, directions, goals, and actions of consequence to clinical child psychology and to clinical child psychologists. Proceedings: Conference on Training Clinical Child Psychologists explores issues pertaining to the goal of training competent psychologists to work with children, youths, and families. The objectives of this volume and the conference are: *to stimulate discourse meaningful to clinical child psychologists and to the total psychological community; *to clarify major issues and alternative actions, and *to formulate and implement feasible proposals for strengthening the professional preparation of clinical child psychologists. Topics included in this volume include: roles and responsibilities of clinical child psychologists and the boundary issues; curriculum issues; models of training; credentialing and licensing; and recommendations, guidelines and conclusions drawn from the conference. Also included are the Guidelines for Training Psychologists to Work with Children Youths, and Families (Appendix E). Contributors include: June M. Tuma, Donald K. Routh, Michael C. Roberts, Patricia J. Aletky, Stanley F. Schneider, Alan O. Ross, Honore M. Hughes, Anthony P. Mannarino, Thomas H. Ollendick, Annette M. LaGreca, Carolyn Schroeder, Jerome H. Hanley, David S. Glenwick, Steven M. Neuhaus, Frank D. Fincham, Gary B. Melton, Douglas G. Ullman, Howard Markam, William O. Donnelly, Sandra W. Russ, Donald K. Freedheim, Jane W. Kessler, Donald Wertleib, Dennis Drotar, Andrew S. Bradlyn, Lynne Doran, Sheila Eyberg, James H. Johnson, Jean C. Elbert, Robert D. Felner, Raymond P. Lorion, Al Finch, Diane J. Willis, Marilyn T. Erickson, Martha Perry, Richard R. Abidin, Felicisima C. Serafica, Charles Wenar, S. Joseph Weaver, Jacquelin Goldman, Rochelle L. Robbins.