Achieving Permanence for Older Children and Youth in Foster Care
Achieving Permanence for Older Children and Youth in Foster Care

Author: Benjamin Kerman

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2009-05-12

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 023151932X

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Through a novel integration of child welfare data, policy analysis, and evidence-informed youth permanency practice, the essays in this volume show how to achieve and sustain family permanence for older children and youth in foster care. Researchers examine what is known about permanency outcomes for youth in foster care, how the existing knowledge base can be applied to improve these outcomes, and the directions that future research should take to strengthen youth permanence practice and policy. Part 1 examines child welfare data concerning reunification, adoption, and relative custody and guardianship and the implications for practice and policy. Part 2 addresses law, regulation, court reform, and resource allocation as vital components in achieving and sustaining family permanence. Contributors examine the impact of policy change created by court reform and propose new federal and state policy directions. Part 3 outlines a range of practices designed to achieve family permanence for youth in foster care: preserving families through community-based services, reunification, adoption, and custody and guardianship arrangements with relatives. As growing numbers of youth continue to "age out" of foster care without permanent families, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have increasingly focused on developing evidence-informed policies, practices, services and supports to improve outcomes for youth. Edited by leading professionals in the field, this text recommends the most relevant and effective methods for improving family permanency outcomes for older youth in foster care.

Adolescent Health: Background and the effectiveness of selected prevention and treatment services
Adolescent Health: Background and the effectiveness of selected prevention and treatment services

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 782

ISBN-13:

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This three volume work presents the Office of Technology's assessment of the physical, emotional, and behavioral health status of contemporary American adolescents, including those living in poverty, racial and ethnic minority groups, Native Americans, and rural adolescents. Specific topics covered are identifying risk and protective factors for adolescent health problems, evaluating options in the organization of health services and technologies available to adolescents, assessing options in the conduct of national health surveys to improve collection of adolescent health statistics, and identifying gaps in research on the health and behavior of adolescents.

Losing Generations
Losing Generations

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1995-02-01

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0309052343

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At least 7 million young Americansâ€"fully one-quarter of adolescents 10 to 17 years oldâ€"may be at risk of failing to achieve productive adult lives. They use drugs, engage in unprotected sex, drop out of school, and sometimes commit crimes, effectively closing the door to their own futures. And the costs to society are enormous: school and social services are overwhelmed, and our nation faces the future with a diminished citizenry. This penetrating book argues that the problems of troubled youth cannot be separated from the settings in which those youths liveâ€"settings that have deteriorated significantly in the past two decades. A distinguished panel examines what works and what does not in the effort to support and nurture adolescents and offers models for successful programs. This volume presents an eye-opening look at what millions of the nation's youths confront every day of their lives, addressing: How the decline in economic security for young working parents affects their children's life chances. How dramatic changes in household structure and the possibilities of family and community violence threaten adolescents' development. How the decline of neighborhoods robs children of a safe environment. How adolescents' health needs go unmet in the current system. Losing Generations turns the spotlight on those institutions youths needâ€"the health care system, schools, the criminal justice, and the child welfare and foster home systemsâ€"and how they are functioning. Difficult issues are addressed with study results and insightful analyses: access of poor youths to health insurance coverage, inequities in school funding, how child welfare agencies provide for adolescents in their care, and the high percentage of young black men in the criminal justice system.