A professional book aimed at practitioners and practitioners in training, this volume is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive, practical approach to the assessment and treatment of physically abused children. While there are other books that cover certain aspects of assessment and treatment, this book is comprehensive in that it covers child-specific, parent-specific, and family-specific interventions. The volume will present an overview of child physical abuse (including statistics and consequences), it will discuss outcome studies and treatment implications, and it will thoroughly discuss assessment and treatment. It will help practitioners: Understand children′s abuse experiences, views, exposures to violence, and it will help expose thinking errors or negative attributions. It will also help the practitioner help the children with anxiety management, anger management, social skills, and safety plans. Help parents with child management and development, expectations and cognitive distortions, behavior management, and discipline. Facilitate family communication and problem solving.

The field of family, child, and couple assessment continues to evolve and change since the first edition of this book appeared in 2004. Couple and Family Assessment, Third Edition, is a thoroughly revised and updated resource for anyone working with children, adolescents, couples, and families. It provides an in-depth description of an even larger number of clinically useful assessment tools and methods, including issue-specific tools, self-report inventories, standardized inventories, qualitative measures, and observational methods. Each chapter provides strategies for systematically utilizing these various assessment methods and measures with a wide range of family dynamics that influence couples and families. These include couples conflict, divorce, separation, mediation, premarital decisions, parenting conflicts, child abuse, family violence, custody evaluation, and child and adolescent conditions, i.e., depression, anxiety, conduct disorder, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and learning disorders that can significantly influence family dynamics. This third edition features the latest, most common and important assessment tools and strategies for addressing problematic clinical issues related to working with families, couples, and children. Chapters 3 through 11 include matrices that summarize pertinent information on all instruments reviewed, allowing readers to instantly compare more than 130 assessment devices. Finally, the book provides extensive clinical case material that illustrates the use of these various assessment tools and strategies in a wide array of clinical situations. Couple and Family Assessment, Third Edition, will be useful to both trainees and practitioners as a ready reference on assessment measures and strategies for working with families, couples, and children.

Services for families and children are rightfully the focus of intense scrutiny and debate, and there is a clear need to establish a knowledge of which services work well. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of research evidence from the UK and USA on the effectiveness of selected child welfare interventions. It addresses the challenges of measuring effectiveness in child welfare and explains the policy context for child welfare service delivery. Leading international contributors summarize the evidence of effectiveness in each core area, and consider the impact on children's development, parenting capacity and the wider community. Critically, the book also draws out the implications of the evidence for policy, practice and service delivery as well as for future research. This book is essential reading for policy makers, practitioners and commissioners of services in child welfare as well as students and researchers.

An extensively revised version of the first edition, this text focuses on the practical foundational knowledge required to practice social work effectively in the complex and fast-changing world of services to children and their families. The core organizing framework consists of eight pragmatic perspectives: combating adultcentrism, family-centered practice, the strengths perspective, respect for diversity and difference, the least restrictive alternative, ecological perspective, organization and financing, and achieving outcomes. Unlike most texts that focus either on direct practice or on policy, Petr's revised volume integrates current policy-including recent reform efforts-with "best practices." The student thus gains a deep appreciation for how direct social work practice is linked to, and even guided by, contemporary policy initiatives and the values that underscore those initiatives. Two new chapters are devoted specifically to the fields of child welfare and children's mental health, providing an overview of the laws, policies, practices, and terminology pertaining to each setting. The next eight chapters focus on each pragmatic perspective and its relevance to child welfare and children's mental health. The in-depth case studies that comprise the concluding two chapters illustrate how typical client situations can be successfully addressed within the context of the pragmatic perspectives. Packed with case studies, specific practice instruction, chapter summaries, and suggested learning activities, this book prepares students and practitioners to think and act professionally in ways that are consistent with current laws, values, policies, and reform efforts in the field.

This practice-oriented text presents evidence-based assessment methods and interventions that have been extensively field-tested in child welfare settings. The contributors offer empirical and field insights, comprehensive treatment models, and curricula in key areas such as child maltreatment, substance abuse, parent training, social skills, and youth employment interventions. For the professional reader, the book offers real-world guidance on social work practice, from hiring opportunities within a system to promoting lasting change as families and their issues grow increasingly complex. These chapters also take significant steps toward future improvements in child protection systems as the field evolves toward being more coordinated, effective, and professional. Included in the coverage: Legal requisites for social work practice in child abuse and neglect. The integrated model for human service delivery in child welfare. Risk assessment: issues and implementation in child protective services. Substance use and abuse: screening tools and assessment instruments. The process of intervention with multi-problem families. Preventative services for children and adolescents. Its multi-level approach makes Evidence-Informed Assessment and Practice in Child Welfare an essential professional development text for social workers, particularly those new to the job, as well as a progressive blueprint for social work administrators.

Written for all those involved in child protection work, this volume focuses on evidence-based practice. It features four sections covering prevalence and prediction, primary and secondary prevention, helping victims and helping offenders.

This important book reviews the current state of knowledge of Munchausen''s syndrome by proxy, a type of child abuse which causes wide concern. Two main areas are covered, which will be of particular interest: new directions in research, and treatment of the perpetrator in and outside the family. The book also considers the ethical and legal issues raised by this problematic behaviour, which involves many different types of professionals and has a heavy cost not only for services but also for victims and perpetrators. Unlike other books, this volume provides a multidisciplinary perspective, with input from social workers, paediatricians, child-psychiatrists and lawyers, among others. It also offers an international perspective, with contributors from the USA, Canada and Australia. Contents: A 20-Year Overview (A Bentovim); International Perspectives on Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (R Brown & M D Feldman); Child Abuse Specific to the Medical System (J Jureidini & T Donald); The Extraordinary Case of Mrs H (E V Welldon); Munchausen''s Syndrome by Proxy: A Perspective from Primary Care (M J Bannon & Y H Carter); The Presentation and Natural History of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (M C B Plunkett & D P Southall); The Detection of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (M P Samuels); Assessment of Abusing Families (D P H Jones & C Newbold); The Role of the Guardian Ad Litem (S Pizzey); The Social Work Role in Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (J Gray); Munchausen''s Syndrome by Proxy OCo The Legal Perspective (D Taylor & M Nicholls); Risk Assessment (M Eminson); Treatment of Perpetrators (K Bluglass); Treatment and Outcome for Victims (I Mitchell); Ethical and Public Policy Issues in the Management of Munchausen''s Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP) (G Adshead); Current Challenges in the Management of Perpetrators (D Brooke & G Adshead); New Directions in Research and Service Development (C Bools). Readership: Paediatricians, psychiatrists, nurses and social workers."

Recent research has shown that a significant proportion of North American children are sexually, physically, or psychologically abused each year, and that the number of reports of adult rape, spousal abuse, and physical assault by strangers continues to grow. Beyond the epidemiology of societal violence per se is its impact on the mental health of those who live in our culture. Scientists and clinicians are beginning to trace the genesis of a number of psychological symptoms and disorders to childhood or adult traumatic events, many of which involve interpersonal violence. As a result, a new specialty of mental health practitioners has evolved, one specifically concerned with the assessment and treatment of psychological trauma. At the same time, however, the typical front-line clinician is bound to encounter children and adults who have been victimized and who present complex post-traumatic sequelae. It is for both the trauma specialist and the general clinician that this sourcebook was developed. Although the subject matter is disturbing, growing assessment and treatment technology give us new hope for treating victims of violence. This is the 64th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Mental Health Services. For more information on the series, please see the Journals and Periodicals page.

Provides clinicians with a structured guide to the establishment of an assessment and treatment program for adolescent sex offenders.

Social, economic, and theoretical changes in the current clinical landscape are adding up to profound changes in children's services--not the least of which is an expanded need for mental health services. Professionals--novices and veteran clinicians alike--wonder how to fill this demand in the present climate of turf wars, reorganizations, and budget cuts. The Handbook of Mental Health Services for Children, Adolescents, and Families cogently analyzes the issues and provides the answers, from current issues and emerging therapeutic trends to new avenues of treatment. Thoroughly researches and documented buy industry experts, it presents the widest range of mental health services available to youth and their families. Areas of coverage include: Specific modalities in service delivery, including in-patient and day treatment facilities, pediatric hospitals, and community mental health centers as well as rural, school, and primary care settings. Services tailored to special populations, such as adolescent sex offenders, homeless children and their families, children with chronic illness, oppositional teens, abuse situations, and children exposed to traumatic events. Details on preventative programs for child abuse, substance abuse, STD's, and gang violence. An in-depth examination of the latest developments in children's services, including therapeutic camping and Internet-based treatment. Approaches and methods for evaluating service organization, delivery, and efficacy. Few areas of mental health care demonstrate the need for complementary services as much as child and family practice does. With this need firmly in mind, the Handbook encourages creativity and collaboration within practice settings and across agencies. For clinicians, administrators, school practitioners, and advanced-level students, this is a reference certain to have lasting impact on the field.