Afterschool Programming for Low-income Youth
Dr. Elisabeth Maring and Dr. Susan Walker
In 2004, Maryland Cooperative Extension recieved a grant from the USDA, Children, Youth and Families at Risk (CYFAR) initiative to provide after school enrichment projects in three areas of the state. The projects are located in two rural areas: Somerset and Garrett counties, and in one urban area: Frederick. The Somerset and Frederick sites provide time and activities in neighborhood computer labs for school-age children to enhance their computer literacy and strengthen academic gains. The Garrett county project is supplementing high quality activites in 3 elementary afterschool sites with educational programs in areas such as Family Science education and agriculture literacy. Dr. Maring, Dr. Walker and a graduate student serve as evaluators for the county projects. The grant has opportunity for renewal through 2009.

Community Violence and Head Start Children
Dr. Suzanne Randolph and Dr. Sally Koblinsky
The researchers and Family Science graduate students collected data for a three-year research and intervention project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The project examines the effects of neighborhood violence on preschoolers, the role of family and schools in mediating its impacts, and the effectiveness of early childhood anti-violence interventions in Head Start programs. This study of African-American Head Start families examines the effects of community violence exposure on preschoolers' cognitive, motor, and socioemotional development; determines the strategies parents and teachers use to protect children from violence and help them deal with violence-related stress; and evaluates the impact of a preschool-level violence intervention program involving the school and family on children's developmental skills and behavior problems. The project also provides educational policy-makers with strategies for developing community-wide violence prevention/intervention programs.

Family Processes, Intergenerational Learning, and Involved Fathering
Dr. Sandra Hofferth
This project, funded by NICHD, will investigate the contributions of family interaction, mothering, and paternal residence (viewed as three key family processes), and the contributions of the subjective meaning and contexts of fatherhood, to men's involved fathering. These contributions are analyzed both within family generations, and intergenerationally. The project will use data from the Young Adult samples of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the Early Head Start Father component, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the 2002 Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, and the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

Fostering Resiliency in At-Risk African American Children
Dr. Sally Koblinsky and Dr. Suzanne Randolph
The researchers and Family Science graduate students implemented and evaluated a family strengthening program for low-income African American parents of Head Start children in Washington, D.C. The project, funded by the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, sought to increase family resilience and minimize young children's susceptibility to drug use and violence. In the first year, the researchers used a community consensus-building process to select a culturally-appropriate intervention program, Effective Black Parenting. Two cycles of the program were implemented with 34 African American families who resided in neighborhoods with high levels of community violence. A group of 31 nonparticipating families in similar neighborhoods served as a comparison group. A pretest-posttest design was used to assess the impact of the family strengthening model on parents' and children's attitudes and behaviors. Findings provide lessons for developing successful university-community collaborations and for designing culturally-sensitive parenting programs.

Lifelines for Children
Dr. Jacqueline Wallen and Dr. Sally Koblinsky
Dr. Jacqueline Wallen and Dr. Sally Koblinsky are working with the Center for Adoption Support and Education (CASE) in Silver Spring to evaluate CASE's Lifelines program for children in foster care. The study was funded by the Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services. Current federal adoption policy stresses the timely placement of foster children in permanent homes and places responsibility on the states to explore reunification and adoption options concurrently from the time the child is placed in foster care. Lifelines is a program that helps children and foster parents cope with the uncertainty and ambiguity inherent in concurrent planning through education, psychotherapy, and group sessions. The evaluation explores the effects of program participation on foster parent stress; children's attachment, depression, self-esteem, and behavior; and psychological presence of the birth parent for the child. In addition, educational programs for child welfare workers are being conducted and evaluated.

Transracial Adoption
Dr. Leigh Leslie and Dr. Jaslean LaTalliade
A group of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students, in collaboration with the Center for Adoption Support and Education, are beginning a national study of White families who have adopted racial minority children. The mixed-method study will focus on both parents' and adolescents' perceptions of their families and the factors associated with racial identity development and adjustment for transracially adopted youth.