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With contributions ranging from academic and professional theorists and policy developers to independent social workers, this book explores the development of family-centered services, the processes by which these services are implemented, the problems the field now faces, and prospects for the ...

With contributions ranging from academic and professional theorists and policy developers to independent social workers, this book explores the development of family-centered services, the processes by which these services are implemented, the problems the field now faces, and prospects for the future. Multi-faceted examinations of the field show how family-centered services and child well-being can be linked on a daily basis to better the lives of both parents and children.

The pressures of a rapidly changing world and the increasing complexity of family structure are placing the American family and, therefore, American children in jeopardy. This unique volume does not just examine the troubles that American families face or demand that changes be made; Finkelstein ...

The pressures of a rapidly changing world and the increasing complexity of family structure are placing the American family and, therefore, American children in jeopardy. This unique volume does not just examine the troubles that American families face or demand that changes be made; Finkelstein designs programs that can be implemented. She calls on communities, as well as individual agencies, to organize themselves to create services that are necessary. Finkelstein stresses that these programs must be family-centered, they must be linked to past family connections, and they must build connections into the future.

In an era when headlines often seem dominated by horrific stories about abused children,Solomon's Swordweaves together the elements of two painful custody battles into a memorable book that no reader who cares about children will be able to put aside. The first story unfolds around Gina Pellegrino ...

In an era when headlines often seem dominated by horrific stories about abused children,Solomon's Swordweaves together the elements of two painful custody battles into a memorable book that no reader who cares about children will be able to put aside. The first story unfolds around Gina Pellegrino, who, in 1991, hours after giving birth to a daughter, abandons the child in a Connecticut hospital, and Cynthia and Jerry LaFlamme, a childless New Haven couple who have waited five years for an adoptive baby. When asked by a caseworker to name their highest priority--do they prefer a boy, a girl, an infant, a toddler--the LaFlammes say they simply want a "risk-free baby," one who can't be taken from them under any circumstances. Four months after the baby girl has come to live with them--and soon before their adoption would become legal--Pellegrino reappears, hoping to reclaim the child. Next, Michael Shapiro describes the Melton sisters, living with nineteen children amid squalor and vermin in a drafty Chicago rowhouse. One snowy night in February 1994, policemen discover the children and evacuate them as a TV camera rolls, searing into our collective conscience shameful images of the officers emerging from the house with child after child in their arms. Though the children  are not victims of outright abuse, their neglect compels authorities to hold the threat of permanent removal over their hapless mothers. In examining the collision between Gina Pellegrino's belated commitment to her daughter and the LaFlammes' threatened adoption of the girl, as well as the Meltons' inability to understand their parental shortcomings, Shapiro meets judges, lawyers, social workers, clergy, and therapists who must advocate a course of action not only in these two cases, but in thousands more every year across America. Reading about these dedicated people who are in the vanguard of new approaches to the problem of mistreated children will leave readers hopeful that we are finally learning how to ameliorate this enduring national disgrace.Solomon's Swordsheds new light on a dire social problem in a powerful book that will influence public policy for years to come.

There is mounting interest in services to strengthen families and, if possible, to keep them together, preventing unnecessary and costly out-of-home placements. Unfortunately, although these programs are proliferating throughout the country, many are developing without the benefit of existing ...

There is mounting interest in services to strengthen families and, if possible, to keep them together, preventing unnecessary and costly out-of-home placements. Unfortunately, although these programs are proliferating throughout the country, many are developing without the benefit of existing historical, conceptual, and scholarly data, information needed to make sound fiscal policy and programmatic decisions. This book fills this critical void, with a systematic examination of home-based services for abused, neglected, delinquent, and emotionally disturbed children and their families. With the most authoritative research on the topic to date, this book will be of interest to practitioners, policymakers, and child advocates.