This book provides a good overview of the important and current ssues in child welfare today. --Emma Wolford in The Prevention Report "Nora S. Gustavson and Elizabeth A. Segal take an interdisciplinary approach to issues affecting young people in the USA. The result is a book packed with up-to-date research and statistics relating to the health, educational experience and prospects, violence suffered and perpetrated, homelessness, effects of HIV, and chemical exposure as they affect young people. I would certainly recommend this book to social workers and all professionals working with young people. However, I feel its ′user-friendly′ style and interdisciplinary approach make it attractive reading to a wider audience and hope that the rather prosaic title doesn′t put them off." --Rosemary Rae in British Journal of Social Work Nora S. Gustavsson and Elizabeth A. Segal provide a clear, concise overview of the mental, emotional, physical, and social condition of children in the United States and the current social concerns that threaten their well-being. Traditional child welfare topics such as foster care, adoption, abuse, and neglect are discussed, as are areas of increasing scope and significance including poverty among children, HIV and chemically exposed infants, and the rising number of single-parent households. The need to strengthen proactive child welfare programming and primary prevention is a key theme throughout the book, and serves as both an integrating and perspective-altering force. Human service professionals, professors, and advanced students will find the text an informative guide to sorting out the intricacies of child welfare policy as it exists today. "This book describes some of the most critical issues confronting child welfare. The perspective is balanced and includes elements of policy analysis and principles that students should know. This book will be a valuable resource." --Paula Allen-Meares, School of Social Work, University of Michigan "Nora S. Gustavsson and Elizabeth A. Segal provide a good overview of difficulties facing children in the 1990s. The authors combine information from disciplines such as education, medicine, child development, and economics in their analysis of the problems encountered by youngsters whose basic needs may not be met." --Choice