Suchergebnisse

Here is a major new volume for practitioners, researchers, and those concerned with future policies to promote the welfare of children and families. The patterns of support and the ability of family members to care for each other have changed along with the problems for the health and functioning of families. In Families as Nurturing Systems, respected scholars examine the new and emerging directions in the design and implementation of family resources and support programs. They describe and analyze a wide range of program models in the areas of prevention, social support, family resource, and

Relationships that developed between low‐income African American mothers and home visitors in a Parents as Teachers program were studied. Qualitative open‐ended interviews were conducted with mothers. Results indicated that even though the program was designed to deliver the same curriculum to all parents, there were differences in the focus of the visits. Mothers actively made efforts to shape the focus of the mother‐home visitor relationships. Diversity within mother‐home visitor relationships was associated with the fit between a mother's perceptions of her home visitor and home visiting services and her parenting needs. Implications are provided for enhancing the responsiveness of home visiting programs to the needs of low‐income African American parents and for conducting program evaluations in ways that assess home visiting programs in the context of diverse parent‐home visitor relationships.

Intervention for helping community based after-school programs become more responsive to youth with disabilities and their families is presented in this manuscript. The Disability Specialist intervention utilized a variety of approaches, including: a) increasing awareness of disabilities and services by providing learning opportunity sessions for families and staff, and outreach activities to youth through interactive theater; b) developing in house "disability specialists" to offer ongoing leadership and technical expertise for after-school programs and their community centers; c) developing a network of technical consultants in order to connect families and after-school programs to specialized community resources; d) providing financial assistance to enable community center staff to allocate time to outreach activities; and e) providing families with support in educational advocacy efforts by partnering with a local parent mentoring program. The success of the project depended upon building partnerships with families, community centers, human service agencies, schools, and local funding sources.