SUP-211
SUP-211
INSTITUTIONAL AND COMMUNITY-BASED STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT CHILDREN AND STRENGTHEN FAMILIES
Fall 2012
Meets Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:40-4pm
RG 20
Julie Boatright Wilson Faculty Assistant – Nicole Grenier
Taubman - 440 Taubman – 459A
The current fiscal crisis and growing family instability are challenging the capacities of America’s families and communities to care for their children. State and local governments as well as non-profit organizations, facing their own fiscal crises, are struggling to meet these growing needs with declining resources. As a result, many of our old strategies are unlikely to work going forward. But what should we do? And in the current political environment, what roles do we think government, non-profits, and private sector could and should play in supporting families and children? What does this mean for the ways these organizations and institutions interact with families and children and with one another? How can we make the most persuasive case for our proposals?
The questions this course is designed to address are: What are the challenges today’s children and families are facing? What do we know about the magnitudes of the challenges and how they cluster in individual families and communities? What new strategies are being implemented to address them? How effective are they? What are the appropriate roles for public policy in addressing these challenges?
Audience: There are no prerequisites to SUP-111. The course is designed to provide an overview of major issues and new policy options in the field, so it is appropriate for students with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. Mid-career students and those in the two-year programs are encouraged to consider the course. While the course is focused on families in the United States, it is relevant for students from other countries who are interested in family policy.
Course Outline: The course is divided into five parts.
· We begin with an overview of changing family structures and introduce the primary conceptual frameworks we will use for understanding the problem, setting goals, developing criteria for designing new approaches and assessing the effectiveness of interventions.
· The second section is an introduction to child and adolescent development, focused on the implications of our current understanding of child development for program design, implementation and assessment. We will pay particular attention to designing developmentally appropriate responses to current challenges, measuring the effectiveness of current initiatives, and taking model programs and interventions to scale.
· The third section addresses commonly identified risk factors such as poverty and single-parenthood to explore what they do and don’t explain about childhood vulnerability and family well-being. Students will be encouraged to distinguish between risk factors that impact large populations of children and the many factors that shape an individual child’s vulnerability and coping capacities.
· The fourth section introduces the primary institutions supporting and intervening in families, with some attention to the history of their development over time. We will explore the problems of agencies and systems as they currently operate as well as recent reform efforts and current innovations, focusing on observed or anticipated impact on child and family well-being.
· The final section focuses on what we are learning about reforming state and local agencies. We will use cases of recent state and local agency reform in child welfare, juvenile justice, and mental health, looking closely at how these reforms influence a family’s capacity to care for itself and a community’s capacity to support its children and families. We will also look at the political and management challenges of designing, managing and sustaining these initiatives. Using video-conferencing, we will interview some of those involved in these reforms to get their views of the challenges they face and how they are addressing them.
Class meetings: This course will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:40-4:00 in RG-20. Class sessions will include lectures, discussions, and presentations. One additional session will be scheduled for an evening to view a 90-minute video. We will schedule this after the term begins in order to find the time most convenient for the greatest number of students.
Text and Readings: Students should purchase or be certain to have access to:
Douglas Davies, Child Development: A Practitioner’s Guide, 3rd edition. London: The Guilford Press, 2010. There are likely to be cheaper used copies of the 2nd edition. It is fine to purchase one of these. The primary difference between the two is a new chapter on brain development in the 3rd edition which you can read in the copy on reserve in the library. That means that the chapter numbers will be different but you will be able to figure out the assignment by the chapter titles.
Copies of this book are available at the Harvard Coop, though it may be cheaper on line.
All other required readings, with the exception of those with web addresses, will be included in a course packet available from the CMO or, if copyright fees are too great, on reserve in the KSG library. Students will be expected to have access to the internet for some required reading and are encouraged to surf the Web for other relevant materials.
Specific Requirements: Students will be expected to complete three types of assignments.
Comments on assigned readings: For most classes, I have sought to pick out 2 to 4 articles or book chapters that seem particularly helpful in thinking about the issue at hand. I have tried not to make the reading too demanding. It is absolutely essential that students read the assignments in advance of class.
One of your assignments is to comment on these readings before class. I ask that prior to class you post on our class website a very brief—no longer than 150 words—communication regarding the readings. In particular, I ask that you tell us what you took to be the most important insights from the readings, where you might disagree with the authors, and what issues you would particularly like to discuss in class. In the past, students have found it useful to illustrate their points with examples from their previous work. Occasionally I may post specific questions for you to answer. There are 26 classes, excluding the first class. I will expect students to provide these e-mails for at least 22 of these classes.
Comments on reading assignments are due by 4:00 AM the day of class, in order for me to be able to read them before class. Comments should be posted on the class website and I encourage you to build on one another’s comments. If you wish to send personal comments to me, you may do so at . (Note: There are two Julie Wilson’s at Harvard.)
Memos: Each student will complete two short memos over the course of the semester. Each of these should be no more than 750 words. You will have three potential topics and dates and may select the assignments based on the topics that interest you or the dates that best fit your schedule. You will be able to identify the topics by the materials being discussed in the classes close to the day the memos are due. Dates on the syllabus marked with a double asterisk are potential memo dates.
Final paper: Each student will be required to write a policy paper that analyzes a specific proposal or policy option, the characteristics of a specific situation or condition and their implications for policy, etc. These papers may be either individual or small group projects. Students writing PAEs may want to use this assignment as an opportunity to delve more deeply into a specific aspect of their PAE topic. Others of you may have a particular topic you want to explore, a small study you want to conduct, or may be intrigued by ideas emerging in class. Individually authored papers should be no more than 15 pages in length; group papers may be longer.
Papers will be due no later than Monday, December 17th at 5:00 PM. More specific information on paper topics will be available on the course web page.
Class Participation: The class syllabus contains some study questions; others may be provided electronically before class. Class discussions will rely heavily on the ideas and insights that students bring to class. Therefore, it is crucial that students come to class fully prepared to discuss the assigned materials.
Students will be evaluated on their use of the readings in class discussion and their ability to move the conversation forward. Participation that indicates lack of awareness of the assigned material and comments that do not move the discussion forward will not be viewed positively.
Our class sessions will probe a number of complex, sensitive topics. Some students may feel uncomfortable joining some discussions in class. Sometimes, as a class, we find we do not have enough time in the class session to cover all the ideas and topics students want to discuss. In addition, many students report that some of their most creative ideas and most important insights come after they have had an opportunity to reflect on the classroom comments of their fellow students. At the suggestion of students, we will use our class web page to provide an opportunity for continuing our discussion on line after class. After-class electronic entries will be considered to be part of your classroom participation.
Determination of grade: Your grade for the course will be determined as follows:
Pre-class comments on readings 20%
In-class and post-class comments on readings 15%
Short memos (15% each) 30%
Final paper 35%
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PROBLEM DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS
During the first four classes, we will focus on gaining an understanding of the challenges policy makers face in protecting children and strengthening families and will develop an understanding of the major conceptual frameworks and theories we will be using throughout the course to organize our thinking.
Class 1: Introduction: The Crises in America’s Families and Neighborhoods Sept. 6
Readings:
· Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study: Fact Sheet http://www.fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/documents/FragileFamiliesandChildWellbeingStudyFactSheet.pdf
· Scott Allen and Maria Cramer, "Crime consumed a family, and an 8-year-old is lost," The Boston Globe, August 5, 2007, p. A. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/08/05/crime_consumed_a_family_and_an_8_year_old_is_lost/ Data on an extended Boston family will be provided in class
· Frank Furstenberg, Destinies of the Disadvantaged. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2007, pp. 70-72. (In Course Packet)
· Malcolm Gladwell, “Million-Dollar Murray,” The New Yorker, Feb. 13 and 20, 2006, pages 96-107. http://www.suburbancook.org/files/NewYorker_020606.pdf
· What Proportion of Illinois’s Service Resources are Devoted to Families with Multiple Needs? http://www.chapinhall.org/research/inside/what-proportion-illinois-service-resources-are-devoted-families-multiple-needs
Questions to consider:
1. What are the multiple levels of the problems the Jefferson family is dealing with? In what ways is it an individual problem? A family problem? A network or peer group problem? A neighborhood problem? A city problem? Society’s problem?
2. I will provide data in class on the Smith family – a multi-generational picture of a family enmeshed in crime, substance abuse, low educational performance, etc. What are the challenges to intervening with families with complex structures and complex sets of needs? To intervening effectively?
3. How does thinking about these families in terms of a power distribution rather than a normal distribution influence our thinking about policy options?
4. Who could intervene in families such as these? Who should intervene? Another way of asking this question is: When should we expect families to rely on their own networks for support and when should the “state” provide support?
5. What are the potential points of intervention? What might the models for support be?
6. We often speak in terms of “services,” but the state wields a great deal of power in extending “obligations” to individuals and families. When and how could the state extend “obligations” to families such as these?
Class 2: What do we mean by “at risk”? What are the risks that social policy could Sept. 11
and should address?
Readings:
· Davies, Child Development. Chapter 3. (For two examples of children at risk and strategies for risk analysis, you may want to read Chapter 4.)
· Suniya S. Luthar and Adam Goldstein, “Children’s Exposure to Community Violence: Implications for Understanding Risk and Resilience,” Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, (2004) Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 499-505 http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/ehost/detail?sid=9065228f-9d28-4343-ae2c-5f4847bff6a6%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=125&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aph&AN=14048459
· Parker, S. et al. “Double Jeopardy: The Impact of Poverty on Early Childhood Development,” The Pediatric Clinics of North America. 1988; 35(6); 1227-1240. (In course packet) This is an “old,” but “classic” article.
· Paul Tough, Reporter at Large – The Poverty Clinic: Can a Stressful Childhood Make You a Sick Adult?, The New Yorker, March 31, 2011. http://www.redwillowlearning.org/filelib/635.pdf
· Luther, Suniya and Becker, Bronwyn, “Privileged but Pressured? A Study of Affluent Youth,” Child Development, September/October 2002, Vol. 73, No. 5, pp 1593-1610. http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/3696401
Questions to consider:
1. What do we mean by “risk”? By “at risk”? At risk of what? You might want to think about the “Smith family” from the first class as you read these articles. You might also want to think about your own family and the families of friends of yours growing up.
2. What types of models might be useful for conceptualizing and measuring risks to children? What do Parker, et al mean by “Double Jeopardy”? What are the implications of this model of risk for policy?
3. What do we mean by “resilient”? How would you define “resilience”? How might we support resilience? Help families support resilience among their members?
4. What risks should we as policy makers, public officials or non-profit providers be concerned about? Why? Another way of thinking about this is: what are the risks with which we should attempt to intervene vs. leave families and community networks to address? What criteria should we use to determine who is at risk and with whom we should intervene? How might we as policy makers, public officials or non-profit providers support resilience?
5. When news commentators or other public figures speak of children at risk, what do they have in mind? What is their implicit understanding of “at risk”? How does the “general public” think about risk? What are the implications of this understanding for how we articulate challenges and mobilize political or volunteer support?