by Jack C. Westman (1994)
In 1991, the National Commission on Children called attention to the fact that a small but significant number of parents are failing to fulfill their basic childrearing responsibilities. Dr. Jack C. Westman, an esteemed child advocate, systematically connects the damage caused to children by the failings of those parents to our society's educational, health, safety, and economic problems. A small fraction of the population has reduced public safety to unacceptable levels of danger and sapped the productivity of the nation. These dangerous and dependent individuals are increasing in numbers that drain public funds and erode the productivity of our workforce. . Licensing Parents: Can We Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect? is a provocative work that points the way to reversing these alarming trends. Dr. Westman stimulates thought about the enormous waste of human and economic resources that results from incompetent parents who spawn our society's criminal and welfare dependency problems. He also shows how competent parenting can override the adverse effects of brain damage, malnutrition, and poverty. By focusing attention on the controversial but eminently logical act of licensing parents, Dr. Westman challenges the United States to translate pro-children rhetoric into action that would indeed make a difference in the lives of our children. Licensing parents would symbolically set a societal standard that parents may raise their children as they desire as long as they do not damage their children's abilities to become contributing members of society. It would convey the message to all elements of society that childrearing is an important and valued responsibility and would heighten awareness of the importance of competent parenting to all of us. Most importantly, it would recognize children as human beings with basic civil rights. . The author describes a multi-level approach to families that demonstrates society's respect for parenting and also provides help for foundering parents. He calls for national policies that support rather than undermine parenting as they do now. He points to ways in which communities and neighborhoods can become places in which families and children can thrive. Licensing Parents urges concerned citizens, parents, professionals, and politicians to confront incompetent parenting before it is too late.
Peter Reder and Clare Lucey
Designed as a guide for mental health practitioners undertaking complex child care assessments for the courts, this book provides an interactional approach to parenting breakdown and child maltreatment.
Lynn Shiner & Nancy Chavez with Nancy Eshelman
Two mothers with their only children murdered uncover a focus, drive and commitment to helping others in the aftermath of their loss. Through the power of their stories, understand the impact of crime, the stages of grief, the struggles they endured on their unique journey and the importance of family and friends.
Marita Golden
"A moving African-American family drama of love and devotion in the face of Alzheimer's disease. You just can't plan for this kind of thing. Diane Tate certainly hasn't. She never expected to slowly lose her talented husband to the debilitating effects of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. As a respected family court judge, she's spent her life making tough calls, but when her sixty-eight-year-old husband's health worsens and Diane is forced to move him into an assisted living facility, it seems her world is spinning out of control. As Gregory's memory wavers and fades, Diane and her children must reexamine their connection to the man he once was-and learn to love the man he has become ..."--
Joyce McDonald
Dual perspectives reveal the aftermath of seventeen-year-old Michael MacKenzie's birthday celebration during which he discharges an antique Winchester rifle and unknowingly kills the father of high school classmate Jenna Ward.