During the past decade more than 1,200 families have participated in the Family Solutions Program. A new book written by the developer of the program, William H. Quinn, a UGA professor of child and family development, argues for the importance of including family in providing services to youth at risk.
The nearly 300-page book, Family Solutions for Youth at Risk, focuses on the importance of bringing families into treatment programs for children with serious behavior problems. Traditionally, such children have either faced probation through the court system or treatments that often did not include parents and other family members.
The book provides data documenting its effectiveness, particularly in curbing further delinquency and strengthening families. In addition, it tells the stories of six families who completed the program.
Quinn hopes the book will generate policy changes and programmatic decisions among a variety of agencies that deal with children who have committed crimes, are truant or engage in other misbehavior.