During the past decade a record number of single-parent families entered the child welfare system because the mother had an identified problem of substance abuse. These trends have forced child welfare agencies and substance abuse treatment providers to take a new look at the needs of mothers with problems of chemical dependency and their children. This article examines the issues that face child welfare and substance abuse treatment professionals as they attempt to address these new challenges and recommends strategies for forging new alliances and closing gaps in service delivery. The article calls for action to end the oppression that hampers efforts to effectively serve these families.
Home-visitation programs for families with young children are growing in popularity in the United States. These programs typically seek to prevent child abuse and neglect and/or promote optimal development for infants, toddlers, and/or preschool-age children. This article focuses on improving the capacity of home-visitation programs to meet the complex needs of highly vulnerable families with young children. Poverty, maternal depression and substance abuse, and domestic violence are noted as factors that place young children at risk for poor outcomes. The challenges of providing home-visitation services to families in which these risk factors are present are discussed. Family engagement, matching services to families' needs, and staff capabilities are highlighted as areas in which improvements can be made to enhance home-visitation programs' capacity to serve highly vulnerable families. Recommendations are given for improving the effectiveness of home-visitation programs in serving these families as well as for addressing policy and research issues related to the further development and evaluation of these programs.
In the United States, interest in early childhood development has grown dramatically over the past two decades and continues to expand.Increasing public support for programs and services that address the needs of young children and their families provides numerous opportunities for social work intervention.This article describes three major early childhood systems-early intervention, Early Head Start, and early care and education-and discusses ways that social workers can strengthen programs within these systems and improve outcomes for participating children and families. Social workers' understanding of and commitment to family-centered practice and cultural competence are highlighted. Opportunities for social workers to become involved in advocating for, developing, and leading high-quality early childhood programs and implications for social work education are also discussed.
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