In this book, the authors argue that a public health framework rooted in ecological theory and based on principles of risk, protection, and resilience is a useful conceptual model for the design of social policy across the substantive areas of child welfare, education, mental health, health, developmental disabilities, substance use, and juvenile justice. Recommendations for ways to advance a public health framework in policy design, implementation, and evaluation are offered.

Social Policy for Child and Family Development: A Systems/Dialectical Perspective is designed to help students think critically and dialectically about social policies that affect children and families. Based on the belief that no single policymaking position has all the answers, the book offers a model that reduces the tendency to present only one viewpoint. As they move through the text, readers use this model to evaluate the effectiveness of specific policies. The book addresses issues such as alcohol, nicotine, and drug use during pregnancy, social policy and poverty, education, family development, and technology. The material also discusses child abuse and neglect, social media and ethnicity, and the future of social policy on child and family development. Each chapter includes learning objectives, key terms, study questions, a debate activity, additional reading resources, and a list of references. Social Policy for Child and Family Development is well suited to courses in child and family studies or consumer sciences. Thomas W. Roberts is a professor in the Department of Child and Family Development at San Diego State University. He teaches courses in family studies and public policy. His research interests include attachment in long-term marriages, parenting, applying neuroscience to marital therapy, and the role of religion and ethical values on family development. He has numerous publications and is the author of the book A Systems Perspective of Parenting: the Child, the Family and the Social Network. He is the founder and President of Improving Developmental Experiences Across the Lifespan (IDEALS), a 501(c)3 non-profit. Dr. Roberts received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 1984.

This text proposes corrective action to improve the institutional care of African American children and their families, calling attention to the specific needs of this population and the historical, social, and political factors that have shaped its experience within the child welfare system. The authors critique policy and research and suggest culturally targeted program and policy responses for more positive outcomes.

Social workers are constantly making decisions under pressure. How do policy, law, research and theory influence what they do? This important book provides the answers with a crystal-clear map of the field of social work with children and families. Focused on four major themes - family support work, child protection, adoption and fostering, and residential child care, and reveals in detail all the challenges that social workers face every day. Edited by the highly respected Martin Davies, this authoritative and illuminating book argues that the skill of the social worker can have life-enhancing consequences for some of the most vulnerable people in society. It is an essential investment for students, educators and practitioners alike.

Conversational and applied, Social Policy for Children and Families is an award-winning collection of cutting-edge research from from across policy sectors in the human services.

Examination of the challenges that have emerged during the past decade in the field of child development and social policy. The volume emphasizes the real connections between what we know about healthy child development, and what we are doing--and not doing--to strengthen our nation's families. At the same time, it paints a realistic picture of the complex and often frustrating context within which policy efforts made on behalf of children and families are conceived and developed. -- from publisher's description.

Some for more government, others for less; but all call for different government methods for achieving socially agreed-upon goals to help America's children.

Rev. ed. of: Social policy for children & families: a risk and resilience perspective. 2006.

The Third Edition of Jeffrey M. Jenson and Mark W. Fraser’s award-winning text, Social Policy for Children and Families, offers new evidence that a public health framework based on ecological theory and principles of risk, protection, and resilience is essential for the successful design and implementation of social policy. Written in a conversational, reader-friendly style and incorporating cutting-edge research, this carefully crafted book maps a pathway for developing resilience-based social policies. In every chapter, experts in their respective fields apply the editors’ conceptual model across the substantive domains of child and family poverty, child welfare, education, mental health, health, developmental disabilities, substance use, and juvenile justice. Recipient of the Best Edited Book Award from the Society for Research on Adolescence in 2008, the book is an ideal core text for graduate and upper level undergraduate courses and a vital resource for elected officials, policy makers, and others interested in the evolution of policies aimed at preventing problem behaviors and supporting children and families.

Social workers are constantly making decisions under pressure. How do policy, law, research and theory influence what they do? This important book provides the answers with a crystal-clear map of the field of social work with children and families. Focused on four major themes - family support work, child protection, adoption and fostering, and residential child care, and reveals in detail all the challenges that social workers face every day. Edited by the highly respected Martin Davies, this authoritative and illuminating book argues that the skill of the social worker can have life-enhancing consequences for some of the most vulnerable people in society. It is an essential investment for students, educators and practitioners alike.