Child and Family Advocacy

Anne McDonald Culp, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Child, Family and Community Sciences at the University of Central Florida. She has taught at three universities and conducted research as a principal investigator and co-investigator on several federally funded and state-funded grants, most of which evaluated early intervention effects with young mothers and their infants and studied children and families of  Head Start programs. She is past President of Division 37 of the American Psychological Association and has been a lifetime advocate for children and families.

• Preface.- Section I – Introduction.- 1. The Well-Being of Children in the United States: Evidence for a Call for Action.- 2. Advocating For Children, Youth and Families in the Policy Making Process.- Section II – Selected Child Issues in Need of Advocacy Effort.- 3. Promoting Children’s Mental Health:  The Importance of Collaboration and Public Understanding.- 4. Health Reform: A Bridge to Health Equity.- 5. Child Maltreatment Prevention.- 6. Strategies for Ending Homelessness among Children and Families.- 7. Lessons Learned about the Impact of Disasters on Children and Families and Post-Disaster Recovery.- 8. Early Childhood Education and Care:  Legislative and Advocacy Efforts.- 9. Education Reform Strategies for Student Self-Regulation and Community Engagement.- 10. Media Violence and Children:  Applying Research to Advocacy.- 11. Changing Juvenile Justice Practice & Policy:  Implementing Evidence-Based Practices in Louisiana.- 12.  Advocacy for Child Welfare Reform.- 13.  American Indian/Alaska Native Children and Families.- Section III.  Illustrations of Advocacy Practices.- 14. A Multi-level Framework for Local Policy Development and Implementation.- 15. When Evidence and Values Collide:   Preventing Sexually Transmitted Infections.- 16. Lessons from the Legislative History of Federal Special Education Law: A Vignette for Advocates.- 17. The Promise of Family Engagement: An Action Plan for System-level Policy and Advocacy.- Section IV.  History of Division 37.- 18. The Evolving Legacy of the American Psychological Association’s Division 37: Bridging Research, Practice, and Policy to Benefit Children and Families History of Society for Child and Family Policy & Practice.

"Child and Family Advocacy describes the process of advocacy using current scientific knowledge. It is very useful and hopeful to know that research knowledge can have an impact on policy and government funding to actually help the children we are studying... Although the scientific community has emphasized the need to connect research to practice, this is one of the first books to add the critical link to advocacy and the need to provide funding for evidence-based programs and treatment processes." (Linda C. Caterino, PsycCRITIQUES, February 24, 2014, Vol. 59, No. 8, Article 4)