This article discusses a school and community collaborative initiative that targeted students of Chinese descent as a suicide at-risk population. Its main focus was to reach out to immigrant parents to help them strengthen communication and relationships with their adolescent children and to facilitate their access to mental health services in the…

This article chronicles the search for and development of an outcome measurement tool for teen parents receiving community-based wraparound services. The criteria for selecting functional assessment tools available in the literature is presented along with the barriers experienced in using two of these well-cited tools. The rationale for in-house…

"Safe haven" laws are designed to protect infants from being killed or otherwise harmed. This article examines the safe haven laws from the states that comprise the Midwest School Social Work Council and the variations between these laws regarding the age of the infant, where the infant can be left, who is allowed to leave the infant, whether…

This study examines early adolescent self-reported intentions about having sex during the next year. A total of 114 variables are investigated for possible associations with lower versus higher levels of intention about having sex. The sample consists of 306 early adolescents from several middle schools in a predominantly white, rural community in…

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of violence among youths, specifically as it relates to problem solving and conflict resolution or retaliation. I conducted a qualitative study with adolescents from fourteen to nineteen years old who completed age- and sex-based scenarios involving a peer conflict. The results indicate…

Sexual aggression in children and youths has received increased attention over the past twenty years as a result of increasing awareness of the problem. Yet despite this augmentation of interest, limited attention has been paid to sexual aggression in children and youths with developmental disabilities. As a group, juveniles are responsible for…

The aim of this study is to provide school social workers with an outline of the indicators common to school fire setters regarding their experiences of bullying and victimization by bullies. A sample of juvenile fire setters (N = 379) between the ages of five and seventeen years attending a fire-setter intervention program completed a modified…

This study investigated adolescents with a mental health diagnosis and their experience of stigma in schools. Forty adolescents between the ages of twelve and seventeen who met DSM-IV criteria for a psychiatric illness and who were prescribed psychiatric medication were selected. The Teen Subjective Experience of Medication Interview was used to…

The absence of parents from schools is seen as an important factor related to the significant number of adolescents at risk of school failure. Effective parenting is known to be a key protective factor for adolescents at risk for school failure and other maladaptive developmental outcomes. While evidence-based parent management training models…

Nearly one million adolescent girls in the United States become pregnant annually, which has significant negative social and economic consequences. The number of teen pregnancies totals 50,000 in Florida, where state statutes require that these adolescents be provided with ongoing education and other support services in schools. While school…

This qualitative study of school social workers who practice with youths identified as seriously emotionally disturbed offers guidelines for the use of information gleaned through consultation in clinical decision making. School social workers engage in regular consultation with professionals in the school setting, the community, the family, and…

Students and other members of a school community frequently experience grief and loss. This article uses a dual process model to describe students' grief and loss. It also describes the manifestations of grief at different stages of children's development, as well as interventions at different levels of the school environment. The ability to help…

Teen pregnancy has declined due to stagnating sexual activity rates and increases in contraceptive use. Still, between 800,000 and 900,000 adolescents become pregnant each year in America. Many who become parents during adolescence are unable to achieve positive health, economic, and social well-being outcomes, particularly around educational…

This case study describes a school social worker's development of an in-school intervention for reducing severe anxiety in a fourteen-year-old student. The student was faced with the possibility of a transfer to a more restrictive setting for students with emotional disabilities because of apparently unmanageable anxiety in his regular school…

This issue focuses on the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, P.L. 94-142, and its impact on the role of school social workers, including relationships with students, school personnel, parents, and community service agencies. Other articles address the following areas of concern: (1) truancy and due process; (2) play therapy; (3) issues of…