Pathfinder: Children, Youth, and Families

The following Pathfinder is intended to step you through the basic library research process for identifying resources relating to the MSASS concentration of children, youth and families . This concentration prepares social workers to provide a broad range of services to individuals and families in all phases of the family life cycle. Marital therapy, family counseling, parent education, and the full spectrum of child welfare services are emphasized.

Consult the Steps to Research and Writing a Paper  for more detailed information.

References to book and journal titles are specific to items owned by the MSASS Harris Library and Case Western Reserve University libraries (although in most cases the resources can be found in other academic and public libraries). The websites that are included at the end of the Pathfinder are intended as a starting point for research on the Internet and are not meant to be inclusive.

1. Start by locating resources that provide an overview of your topic.

This will help you define terms in that discipline and provide background information in your subject area. Encyclopedias , handbooks and subject specific dictionaries offer good places to start.

Some titles specifically related to children, youth and families are:

Bornstein, M. H. (Ed.). (2002). Handbook of parenting (2nd ed., Vols. 1-5). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Broude, G. J. (1995). Growing up: A cross-cultural encyclopedia . Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Damon, W. (Ed.). (1998). Handbook of child psychology (5th ed., Vols. 1-4). New York : John Wiley & Sons.

Dickerson, J. L., & Allen, M. (2007). Adoptive and foster parent screening: A professional guide for evaluations .  New York: Routledge.

Gunsberg, L., & Hymowitz, P. (Eds.). (2005). Handbook of divorce and custody: Forensic, developmental, and clinical perspectives . Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.

Harway, M. (Ed.). (2005). Handbook of couples therapy . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

Hayslip, B., & Patrick, J. H. (Eds.). (2006). Custodial grandparenting: Individual, cultural, and ethnic diversity .  New York: Springer Publishing Co.

Hindman, H. D. (Ed.). (2009). The world of child labor: An historical and regional survey . Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.

Kinnear, K. L. (2007). Childhood sexual abuse: A reference handbook (2nd ed.).  Santa Barbara, CA:  ABC-CLIO.

Levinson, D. (Ed.). (1995). Encyclopedia of marriage and the family (Vols. 1-2). New York : Macmillan Library Reference U.S.A.

Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2009). Development through life: A psychosocial approach (10th ed.). Australia; Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.

Noshpitz, J. D. (Editor-in-chief). (1997-1998). Handbook of child and adolescent psychiatry (Vols. 1-7). New York: Wiley.

O'Reilly, A. (Ed.). (2010). Encyclopedia of motherhood (Vols. 1-3). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

The Psychoanalytic study of the child (Vols. 1-64).  (1945-2009).  New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Rosenwald, M. A., & Riley, B. N. (2010). Advocating for children in foster and kinship care: A guide to getting the best out of the system for caregivers and practitioners .  New York: Columbia University Press.

Steele, R. G., & Roberts, M. C. (Eds.). (2005). Handbook of mental health services for children, adolescents, and families . New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.  [Also available ONLINE ]

Stolley, K. S., & Bullough, V. L. (Eds.). (2006). The Praeger handbook of adoption (Vols. 1-2). Westport, CT:  Praeger Publishers.  [ MSASS Note: The authors and several of the contributors are MSASS faculty members, Ph.D. students, and alumni of the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.]

Sussman, M. B., Steinmetz, S. K., & Peterson, G. W. (Eds.).  (1999).  Handbook of marriage and the family (2nd ed.). New York : Plenum Press.

World Association for Infant Mental Health. (2000). Handbook of infant mental health (Vols. 1-4). (J. D. Osofsky & H. E. Fitzgerald, Eds.). New York: Wiley.

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2. Search the online catalog for additional books that will give you the history, context, definitions and theories.

Define the terms that you want to use when you are doing a search for materials. If you do a subject search in the online catalog, the system limits you to using predefined Library of Congress Subject Headings. Click here for more information on doing a subject search .

Some subject headings for children, youth and families (in alphabetical order):

     Adolescence
     Adopted children
     Adoption
     Child abuse
     Child development
     Child psychology
     Child rearing
     Child welfare
     Children growth
     Children with disabilities 
     Developmental psychobiology
     Divorce
     Family assessment
     Family -- Psychological aspects
     Family violence
     Family psychotherapy
     Grandparents as parents
     Infants development
     Kinship care
     Life cycle, human
     Marital conflict
     Marital psychotherapy
     Marital violence 
     Marriage counseling
     Parent and teenager
     Parenting
     Sex counseling
     Socialization
     Victims of family violence

Doing a keyword search will give you many more titles than a subject search and may help you focus the results. When you do a keyword search the system looks in the title, subject and table of contents fields. Click here for more information on doing a keyword search .

To do effective keyword searching, you will need to think of concepts and terms related to your topic. Consulting a thesaurus will help you find synonyms for concepts. Click here for a list of thesauri owned by the Harris Library .

The following thesaurus provides children, youth and families-related terms and concepts:
Knapp, S. D. (2000). The contemporary thesaurus of search terms and synonyms: A guide for natural language computer searching . (2nd ed.). Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.

In addition to the subject headings above, here are some general terms (in alphabetical order) to use when searching for information on children, youth and families. When you narrow your search you will make an additional list specific to your topic.

NOTE: Using a system's truncating symbol (in this example, the asterisk "*") at the end of the root word will provide you with records using variations of that word.

     Adolescent (adolescen*)
     Adoption
     Attachment
     Batterer (batterer*)
     Child abuse
     Child development
     Childhood
     Child welfare
     Couple
     Domestic Violence
     Family systems
     Family therapy
     Foster care
     Human development
     Infant (infan*)
     Kinship care
     Marriage (or marital)
     Parent (parent*) 
     Psychosocial
     Relationship
     Teenager (teenage*)
     Toddler (toddler*)

 

Search the Library Catalog for: KEYWORD SUBJECT

 

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3. Find some general articles on your topic.

After you have located books on your topic, you will want to look for general journal articles in your subject area. Case and OhioLINK offer several general databases. These include:  Academic Search Premier, Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, SIRS Researcher, and Social Sciences Index. These databases provide a mix of popular magazine articles and scholarly research articles. You can get to these databases by choosing the Research Databases option in the Library Catalog .   Note: Access is limited to authorized users.

TIP: When you search in general databases, you will sometimes retrieve citations to book reviews related to your topic. These book reviews may be helpful in leading you to book titles and/or authors in your area of interest.

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4. Search subject specific databases for more scholarly journal articles.

Once you have assembled general journal articles on your topic, you can begin focusing on scholarly research articles. Citations, abstracts and, sometimes, the full-text of journal articles are found in a variety of databases available through Case Western Reserve University and OhioLINK to authorized users.

Case and OhioLINK databases are available by clicking on Research Databases in the Library Catalog .

The World Wide Web also makes available a range of databases. Some of these require a subscription fee to be paid; others are free. Click here to view a list of selected databases available on the Web that are related to social work and the social sciences .

Literature on children, youth and families is found in many disciplines. Some of the databases that will have articles on this topic include:

Child Development & Adolescent Studies (1927-present) is available electronically through the Case Research Databases . "References current and historical literature related to the growth and development of children through the age of 21. Included are book reviews and abstracts from hundreds of journals, and a bibliography of thousands of technical reports, books, book chapters, theses and dissertations that cover the biomedical and social sciences worldwide."--(Database description).  

Education Abstracts is available electronically through the OhioLINK Research Databases . The database covers a wide range of contemporary education issues, including government funding, community partnerships, multicultural education and counseling. The database cites articles in over 470 English-language periodicals, monographs, and yearbooks. The full-text of some articles is available. Coverage is from 1983 through present.  

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) is available electronically through the OhioLINK Research Databases and as a free database on the web . Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, it indexes over 750 professional journals, as well as the Resources in Education File which contains documents from a wide variety of organizations. Coverage is from 1966 forward..  

Family & Society Studies Worldwide (1970-present) is available electronically through the Case Research Databases . It is a core resource on family and gender related topics. It covers over 800,000 records drawn from journals, books, conference and working papers government reports, and websites in the social science disciplines. Citations from the Inventory of Marriage & Family Literature and the Australian Family & Society Abstracts are included. 

Gender Studies Database  is available electronically through the  Case Research Databases  and the  OhioLINK Research Databases , Gender Studies Database combines Women's Studies International and Men's Studies databases with coverage of sexual diversity issues. Source documents include professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion and working papers, dissertations and other sources. Offers several thousand links to freely available and indexed full-text articles and documents on the web. 

PsycINFO is available electronically through the OhioLINK Research Databases . The database indexes the world's literature in psychology and related disciplines. It covers over 1900 journals as well as books, and individual book chapters. The coverage is from 1967 forward. This index corresponds to the printed publication Psychological Abstracts . PsycINFO Historical is a different database that covers similar information between the years 1887-1966.

Social Sciences Citation Index is a database available electronically through the OhioLINK Research Databases . It is a multidisciplinary index to the world of social sciences, and indexes over 1400 journals in fifty disciplines. The database allows cited reference searching (searching by cited work) as well as traditional search methods. Abstracts are not included. Current and retrospective coverage is from 1956 forward.

Social Work Abstracts is available electronically through the Case Research Databases list. It contains more than 45,000 records from 1700 social work related journals. Topics covered include service delivery, social work practice, homelessness, aging, child and family welfare, community organization, and substance abuse. The coverage is from 1977 to the present. This database corresponds with the printed publication Social Work Abstracts .

SocINDEX is available electronically through the Case Research Databases and the OhioLINK Research Databases . SocINDEX includes citations, abstracts, and some full-text for all subdisciplines of sociology. SocINDEX provides data mined from more than 500 "priority" coverage journals as well as 1,040 "selective" coverage journals. It also includes indexing of books, reports, and some other formats. Also included is a useful sociology specific thesaurus for subject term searching. It replaces Sociological Abstracts in the OhioLINK database.  

Sociological Abstracts is a database available electronically through the OhioLINK Research Databases . It indexes 2600 journals in sociology and related disciplines from over 55 countries. It also contains citations to many relevant dissertations and conference proceedings. Sociological Abstracts is an excellent source for information related to general community practice issues. The coverage is from 1963 through June 2005. This index corresponds to the formerly printed publication Sociological Abstracts. OhioLINK stopped subscribing to updates from this database effective June 2005, as a result nothing after that date will be present in the database. Check SocINDEX for current information.

Women's Studies International  
Available electronically through the  Case Research Databases  and the  OhioLINK Research Databases , Women's Studies International covers the core disciplines in Women's Studies and the latest scholarship in feminist research. Nearly 800 essential sources include: journals, newspapers, newsletters, bulletins, books, book chapters, proceedings, reports, dissertations, NGO studies, web sites and web documents, and grey literature. 

CAUTION: The setup will vary for different databases. In many databases if you type in a phrase the system will look for the exact phrase. It does not add an " and" between words. So if you type "urban poverty homeless" you will get zero results because it will look for those words in that exact order. It is often clearer to enter one term at a time and combine the end results.

TIP: Look in the descriptor field and/or use the online thesaurus to lead you to additional terms.

NOTE: Online databases are distributed nationally and are not specific to Case Western Reserve University. The University will not own all the journals that are cited in the databases. Click here for information on finding journal titles in the online catalog .

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5. Browse current issues of journals that contain literature on your topic.

Click here for a list of journals to which the MSASS Harris Library subscribes.

 

Journals that are most likely to contain information on the topic of children youth and families include:

Adolescence    online at: EBSCOhost research databases .  E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Adoption Quarterly  online at:   Taylor & Francis Online.  ( Public catalog )

American Journal of Family Therapy   online at:  Taylor & Francis Online .   MetaPress ,   EBSCOhost Research Databases .   E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Child Abuse & Neglect   online at: OhioLINK .    E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal   online at: OhioLINK .   E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Child Development   online at: OhioLINK ,  JSTOR .  E-Journal Portal.  ( Public catalog )

Child Development Perspectives   online at:  Blackwell Synergy . ( Public catalog )

Child Welfare    online at:  EBSCOhost Research Databases .  E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Children & Schools  online at:  EBSCOhost Research Databases .   E-Journal Portal .  ( Public catalog )

Children and Youth Services Review   online at: OhioLINK .  EBSCOhost Research Databases . ( Public catalog )

Children's Legal Rights Journal  ( Public catalog ) [Harris Library hardcopy discontinued]

Children's Services: Social Policy, Research and Practice   online at: OhioLINK ,   ( Public catalog ) [Ceased]

Children's Voice    ( Public catalog )

Contemporary Family Therapy   online at: OhioLINK .   E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Families in Society   online at: Alliance for Children & Families ,   E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog ) 

Family Planning Perspectives    online at: Guttmacher Archive , JSTOR .  E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog ) [Title changed to: Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health.]

Family Preservation Journal    ( Public catalog ) [On CD-Rom beginning with v.9- 2006-.   Ask at Circulation Desk]

Family Process   online at: OhioLINK ,  E-Journal Portal .  ( Public catalog )

Family Relations   online at: OhioLINK .  JSTOR .   E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Family Therapy    online at:  EBSCOhost Research Databases . E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Family Therapy Networker    ( Public catalog ) [Title changed to: Psychotherapy Networker.]

Future of Children  online at: Packard Foundation , OhioLINK , JSTOR , E-Journal Portal .  ( Public catalog ) [Hardcopy discontinued by Publisher. Available ONLINE only--For newest issues click on Packard Foundation or OhioLINK link] 

International Journal of Child & Family Welfare   ( Public catalog )

Journal of Adolescence   online at: OhioLINK .  E-Journal Portal .  ( Public catalog )

Journal of Child and Adolescent Group Therapy   online at: OhioLINK .   E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog ) [Ceased]

Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse   online at: Taylor & Francis Online .   E-Journal Portal .  ( Public catalog )

Journal of Child and Family Studies   online at: OhioLINK .   E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Journal of Divorce & Remarriage   online at:  Taylor & Francis Online .    E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Journal of Early Adolescence  online at:  OhioLINK .  Sage .   E-Journal Portal .  ( Public catalog )

Journal of Family Issues   online at: OhioLINK , Sage ,  E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Journal of Family Social Work   online at: Taylor & Francis Online .   E-Journal Portal .   ( Public catalog )

Journal of Family Violence   online at: OhioLINK .    E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Journal of Marriage and Family   online at: OhioLINK .   E-Journal Portal .   ( Public catalog )

Journal of Marriage and the Family   online at: JSTOR .   E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )  [Title changed to: Journal of Marriage and Family.] 

Journal of Public Child Welfare   online at:  Taylor & Francis Online .    ( Public catalog )

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health   online at: Guttmacher Archive ,  JSTOR ,   E-Journal Portal . ( Public catalog )

Psychotherapy Networker    online at:  E-Journal Portal .  ( Public catalog )

Youth & Society   online at:  OhioLINK , Sage ,   E-Journal Portal .  ( Public catalog )

Additional journals that cover general topics in Sociology and social studies are available in the Electronic Journal Center and the E-Journal Portal .

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6. Do a Web search on the Internet for additional information.

Information located through the Internet can provide supplemental material to scholarly research articles. Material retrieved from websites should always be evaluated for currency, authorship, bias and accuracy .

Following are selected web sites that might be helpful when looking for information on children, youth and families:

Administration for Children & Families (ACF)
The ACF, within the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for federal programs that promote the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals, and communities. This is an excellent Web site for federal government information. The Search function allows you to search their website for information on a wide range of topics such as welfare reform, child abuse and neglect, and runaway and homeless youth.  The Find an ACF Program Office Website drop-down menu connects you with any of the divisions of the ACF. The site also includes press releases and fact sheets on current issues.

Adolescence Directory On-line (ADOL)
ADOL is an electronic guide to information on adolescent issues. It is a service of the Center for Adolescent and Family Studies at Indiana University. Educators, counselors, parents, researchers, health practitioners, and teens can use ADOL to find Web resources for topics such as conflict and violence; mental health issues; health and health risk issues, etc.

Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI)
AGI is a nonprofit organization focused on reproductive health research, policy analysis and public education. The site provides policy papers, reports and statistics on topics such as abortion, sexual behavior, teen pregnancy, contraception, etc. There is also access to the Institute's publications: Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health and International Family Planning Perspectives, which are in PDF format.

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is a professional medical organization comprised of child and adolescent psychiatrists trained to promote healthy development and evaluate, diagnose, and treat children and adolescents and their families who are affected by disorders of feeling, thinking and behavior. Features of this site include: Legislative Action (links to current legislation affecting children and adolescents with mental illness); Facts for Families  (brief information summaries of over 75 issues relating to children and families); and Related Web Sites. Featured topics on this association's home page change on a regular basis. 

American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT)
AAMFT is the professional association for the field of marriage and family therapy. Clicking on Updates on Family Problems in the Public category will take you to a Families and Health section that offers pamphlets on such topics as adolescent behavior problems, male sexual problems, children and divorce, and depression. The site also includes Resources for Practitioners and Resources for Approved Supervisors. 

The Annie E. Casey Foundation
This excellent site provides information on issues affecting "struggling families" and at-risk children. The Foundation has funded a number of national initiatives, all of which are presented on this site. These include Child Welfare / Permanence, Community Change, Economic Security, Education, Health, Juvenile Justice, and Special Interest Areas. Supporting documentation and publications for all of these programs can be found online. Also check out the data sets available through KIDS COUNT (a state-by-state effort to collect data on the status of children in the United States). 

ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center
This organization provides information on respite programs for caregivers and families dealing with individuals who have disabilities or other special needs. The site provides useful Fact Sheets and Services, as well as access to a National Respite Locator Service. Information on federal funding programs for respite services is also included.

Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice (CECP)
This organization fosters the improvement of services to children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders. The Issue Areas section provides information on cultural competence, school violence, juvenile justice, special education and more. The site also provides comprehensive MiniWebs on topics such as functional behavioral assessment, wraparound planning, and strength-based assessment. Links to other resources connect to related documents produced by other organizations in this field.

Center on Children and the Law
This program of the American Bar Association Young Lawyer's Division focuses on law and court-related topics relating to children. These include child abuse and neglect, foster care, adoption, and children's exposure to domestic violence. The site provides information on laws relating to these issues, reports, and summaries of Center projects.

Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago
Chapin Hall is a research and development center focusing its research on the needs of children and the ways in which those needs can be met. Particular attention is directed to children facing special risks or challenges such as poverty, abuse and neglect, and mental and physical illness. The site provides summaries of organizational research efforts and a list of its publications.

Child & Family WebGuide
This site was designed and built by a team of librarians and child development faculty at Tufts University for students and parents. The site rates and reviews research-based child development websites in the areas of education/learning; health/mental health; family/parenting; resources/recreation; and typical child development. This site has an A-Z list of all of its web sites, but is also searchable by topic, index (list of all topics), and topics by age (age of child from 0-19).

Child Trends
This nonprofit nonpartisan organization is devoted to research on children and youth indicators. The site includes links to Web sites in the areas of welfare & poverty, teen pregnancy, fatherhood, and children & youth. It also provides access to its online publication, The Child Indicator, that includes articles on projects and programs using child and youth indicators at the national, state, and community levels.

Child Welfare League of America (CWLA)
The Child Welfare League of America is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "developing and promoting policies and programs to protect America's children and strengthen America's families."    The site links to the National Data Analysis System (NDAS) allowing users to customize tables and graphs using data compiled from national child welfare agencies. The Advocacy section provides information on key legislative priorities. The site also links to selected articles from the organization's Children's Voice Magazine.

Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD)
CHADD is a national non-profit AD/HD advocacy organization founded in 1987. It provides "general (non-clinical) information on AD/HD in children, teens, and adults."   The Public Policy link provides current information on policies related to education and employment while the Research link provides current research on ADHD.

Children, Youth, and Family Consortium
The Children, Youth, and Family Consortium, based at the University of Minnesota, offers a wide range of information and resources on children and family research, teaching, policy, and community practice. Topics include early childhood, school-aged children, and adolescent issues. The site is geared mainly towards Minnesota Children's services, however each subsection offers links to national programs and current policy changes that will be of interest to all. Be sure to check out the Data Sources for children's issues under the Family Relationships and Parenting section. 

Children's Bureau
This federal agency is located within the Health & Human Services' Administration for Children and Families and assists states in the delivery of child welfare services. The site includes information on agency FAQs/Frequently Requested Information, Laws & Policies,  Statistics & Research, and Current Initiatives & Issues. 

Children's Bureau Express
The Children's Bureau Express "covers news, issues, and trends of interest to professionals and policy makers in the interrelated fields of child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and adoption."    It is supported by the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and published by the Child Welfare Information Gateway.  The Children's Bureau Epress offers a free e-mail subscription for professionals looking for information on the latest child welfare publications or current news and resources from the field. (From the navigation bar on the left-hand side, click on the  Free Subscriptions tab in the Tools section.)  The service will be an excellent reminder to review the site for practical and up-to-date information from the U.S. Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families. [Entry contributed by Professor Elizabeth Tracy.] 

Children's Defense Fund (CDF)
The Children's Defense Fund gathers data, disseminates information, and monitors both state and federal policies. Its site includes information on CDF's stand on issues affecting the nation's children, summaries of its reports and research findings, links to other Web sites, and background on CDF initiatives such as the Black Community Crusade for Children. Some of the information is directly tied into the CDF mission that every child should have a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start.

The Clearinghouse on International Developments in Child, Youth and Family Policies
Columbia University's Institute of Child and Family Policy created this website to act as a single course for information and data about other countries' child, youth, and family policies. The clearinghouse's website provides cross-national, comparative information on policies, programs, benefits, and services in 23 advanced industrialized countries to address child, youth, and family needs. Scope of the site includes laws, regulations, policies, programs, benefits, services designed to achieve specific objectives with or for individuals in their family roles, or the family as a whole unit.

CYC-Net
CYC-Net is a South African based non-profit organization for individuals interested in child and youth care. The site provides an e-mail discussion group, news feeds around issues related to child and youth care, an index to the year's news, and a Reading menu that contains a Journals link giving summaries of articles from other journals, and a Reference Library . Although limited to a few topical areas, the Reference Library entries are very much like pathfinders.  [Entry originally contributed by Professor Elizabeth Tracy.] 

Future of Children
This journal is now a publication of The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and The Brookings Institution, and is published by The Brookings Institution Press (formerly published by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation).  Each issue of this quarterly journal  focuses on a current research and policy issue relating to the well-being of children.  Each issue is available in standard HTML format and as a PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader required) file.

Guide to Careers in Child and Family Policy
This site covers career opportunities in child and family policy. At the same time it serves to identify organizations in child and family policy that can serve as "information resources" in their own right. [Entry contributed by Professor Aloen Townsend.]

KIDS COUNT
KIDS COUNT is a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. It is a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the United States. The site includes access to most of the compiled data and data summaries that have been generated by the project. It also allows you to create graphs and charts from the data. Also included on the site are reports, working papers, and links to AECF Initiative Sites.

KIDS COUNT CENSUS
KIDS COUNT CENSUS is an online interface to help the user quickly and easily create, view and print reports. The Annie E. Casey Foundation has compiled indicators of child well-being from the 2000 U.S. Census both short form (Census SFI) and long form (Census SF3). You can gather information from geographic areas, produce summary profiles, generate ranking tables based on measures and type of geographic areas selected, and download raw data that can be tab-delimited text format for importing into most spreadsheets.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Concerns - American Psychological Association
Contains an extensive amount of information regarding development of sexual orientation and psychological health.  Includes information about therapeutic guidelines, articles, and bibliographies.  Sections of the website include Publications/Resources and Policy/Advocacy. 

National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP)
The mission of the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) is to identify and promote strategies that reduce the incidence of young child poverty in the United States and that improve the life chances of the millions of children under age six who are growing up poor.

National Center on Family Group Decision Making (FGDM)
A Program of the American Humane Association. Using the Family Group Decision Making philosophy (family conferencing -- a one-time meeting where families and their relatives make plans for the well-being of their children) allows families to become more involved with the child welfare agencies that make decisions. The FGDM concept empowers families to develop a workable plan that protects and nurtures their children, rather than professionals setting up a plan for the family that may not work. The FGDM Center offers services to support this philosophy such as training, technical assistance, roundtable discussion notes, newsletters, and other information. 

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National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
This Center focuses on child welfare issues related to management and operations, organizational capacity and service integration. The site provides information on the Child and Family Service Review process, free downloadable publications, and links to other resource centers. It also provides access to the newletter Child Welfare Matters (formerly Managing Care). 

National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth
This Clearinghouse is part of the Family and Youth Services Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families (and links on the site go back to both parent organizations). The focus of the site is on resources that support a youth development approach designed to reduce risky behaviors on the part of young people by focusing on positive models. Material is included for a variety of audiences including policy-makers, researchers, youth service professionals, students and parents.

National Family Preservation Network
This organization is "dedicated to promoting and preserving the well-being of children at risk of being removed from their family." Clicking on News will allow you to view articles from the NFPN Newsletter. The site also includes information on current Network projects.

National Resource Center for Child Welfare Data and Technology
(Formerly: National Resource Center for Information Technology in Child Welfare.)
As a result of a new award by the Children's Bureau effective 10/1/2004, the NRC-ITCW was renamed the National Resource Center for Child Welfare Data and Technology (NRC-CWDT). Their mission is "to assist State, local and tribal child welfare agencies and the courts in improving outcomes for children and families through the use of information technology.

National Resource Center for Youth Development
This organization, through collaboration with the Children's Bureau of DHHS, provides training and technical assistance to publicly administered and supported child welfare agencies. At first glance the web site seems a bit sparse; but, if you click on Resources, then the link to Publications, you will get full-text reports on foster care and independent living. The State by State section provides facts organized by each state and included is information on the Foster Care Independence Act.

National Youth Advocacy Coalition
"The National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC) is a social justice organization that advocates for and with youth people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) in an effort to end discrimination against these youth and to ensure their physical and emotional well being... We are committed to addressing the connections between race, gender, class, and sexual orientation; and to bridging the gap that exists between adult LGBTQ civil rights organizations and the mainstream youth movement."    Under Learn about legislation there are links to Current Legislation (summaries and status information about key bills); search for Key Votes (the congressional roll call votes); and tips on how to Communicate with Elected Officials. Click on Youth Connections where you will find links to both programs and nationwide resources.

North American Council on Adoptable Children
Founded by adoptive parents in 1974, this non-profit organization focuses on the needs of parents seeking to adopt, and children waiting adoption. Data sheets and short articles focus on three main topical areas: post-adoption services, recruiting adoptive families, and adoption subsidy.

Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention
This site provides a wealth of information around issues of juvenile justice and delinquency. The Statistics section includes useful links to statistics as well as a caseflow diagram of how a juvenile case would go through the court system. The Resources section includes links to state contacts, national and international agencies and information on topics such as gangs, gun violence and school violence. The Programs section leads to literature reviews and model programs on topics such as "Strengthening America's Families," "Causes and Correlates of Delinquency,'" and "Blueprints for Violence Prevention." 

Ohio Public Assistance Monthly Statistics (PAMS)
The Public Assistance Monthly Statistics (PAMS) reports state and county information on Ohio Dept. of Job and Family Services program areas covering child care, disability, food stamps, foster care and adoption, medicaid and OhioWorks First. Hardcopy from 1992-2002 is available in the Harris Library. [ Click here to go to the Library Catalog .]

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.
Planned Parenthood "believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility, regardless of the individual's income, marital status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or residence."  This organization advocates reproductive freedom as essential to women's rights. Current health information, research reports, fact sheets, current government policy, plus much more are available here.

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7. Evaluate the information you have collected from books and articles.

Consult the bibliographies of the books and articles you have selected. This will lead you to additional references and authors to investigate. Make notes of the gaps in your literature so that you can use this information when you do additional searches. Click here for more information on evaluating the information you have collected .