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Despite recognition of the central role that service accessibility (and availability) should assume within a system of care, the definition proposed in the feature article of this special issue does not identify specific factors that systems of care must take into account in order to serve diverse children with serious emotional disturbance and their families in a culturally competent manner. This paper provides support for inclusion of the concepts of access and availability in the system of care definition and presents important factors that systems of care must take into account in order to increase access in a culturally competent manner, a core system of care value.

This study gave voice to parents raising young children with challenging behavior using a qualitative, phenomenological approach. Seven families raising children between the ages of 25 and 43 months participated in a series of interviews. The children's primary diagnoses varied, but all children exhibited challenging behaviors such as noncompliance, self-injury, tantrums, excessive crying, and property destruction. Results showed that parents' experiences could be grouped into 5 major themes: (a) obtaining accurate and useful information, (b) obtaining services and supports, (c) financial stress, (d) stress among members of the family, and (e) community isolation. Implications for changes to systems of care for young children with challenging behaviors and their families are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)

Latino student access to higher education has received significant national attention in recent years. This article describes a theory-based evaluation approach used with ENLACE of Hillsborough, a 5-year project funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for the purpose of increasing Latino student graduation from high school and college. Theory-based evaluation guided planning, implementation as well as evaluation through the process of developing consensus on the Latino population of focus, adoption of culturally appropriate principles and values to guide the project, and identification of strategies to reach, engage, and impact outcomes for Latino students and their families. The approach included interactive development of logic models that focused the scope of interventions and guided evaluation designs for addressing three stages of the initiative. Challenges and opportunities created by the approach are discussed, as well as ways in which the initiative impacted Latino students and collaborating educational institutions. (Contains 4 figures and 1 table.)

Latino student dropout is a national concern that must also be addressed strategically in local communities. Although national studies are important for pointing out areas of concern, local studies can provide more specific information for local policy development and implementation. This paper presents an example of local community-initiated needs assessment that addresses issues of Latino access to education. Focus groups and interviews were held with Latino students, parents, and community leaders as well as teachers and administrators. Issues and strategies of the needs assessment process are presented, which include involving key stakeholders, engaging community members as research partners, and engaging school personnel. General findings are presented and linked to accomplishments of the needs assessment process, such as increasing community awareness of issues and building commitment to implement strategies identified to reduce Latino student dropout.

Using a case example of one of the mental health agencies in Florida, we demonstrate the utility of concept mapping for developing a program logic model and articulating a program theory for program assessment. The results of the concept mapping procedure enabled identification of 100 program services as described in statements by staff. Moreover, results revealed four major categories of those services and the main strategies used. This information was used to develop the first three components of a logic model. Concept maps were also used to reveal underlying assumptions built into the agency's theoretical approach.

Collaboration for the purpose of interdependent problem solving represents a fundamental reform of services for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families, which have typically been categorical, poorly coordinated, costly, overly restrictive, and frequently provided outside of the children's home communities. This article presents a developmental framework for collaboration that is based on the experience of families, service providers, administrators, and community members who have been involved in local collaborative processes in their own communities. The framework provides those interested in building collaboration a clear identification of the stages of collaborative development, defining characteristics of each stage, collaborative activities typical of that stage, and identification of the catalyst for change to the next stage. The results of this project indicate that while well-developed professional collaboration is a necessary component of collaboration, it is not sufficient in and of itself. The sites participating in this project related their experiences in building collaborative processes to both the development of strong interagency collaborations and the development of family participation. Their experience indicates that these two processes must be fully developed and woven together to achieve the goal of true collaboration.

This study gave voice to parents raising young children with challenging behavior using a qualitative, phenomenological approach. Seven families raising children between the ages of 25 and 43 months participated in a series of interviews. The children's primary diagnoses varied, but all children exhibited challenging behaviors such as noncompliance, self-injury, tantrums, excessive crying, and property destruction. Results showed that parents' experiences could be grouped into 5 major themes: (a) obtaining accurate and useful information, (b) obtaining services and supports, (c) financial stress, (d) stress among members of the family, and (e) community isolation. Implications for changes to systems of care for young children with challenging behaviors and their families are discussed., In recent years, there has been increased interest in the science of child development, particularly within the early childhood years (i.e., birth to 5 years) and specifically pertaining to children [...]