Promoting Well-Being Among At-Risk Children: Restoring a Sense of Community and Support for Development

Abstract

(from the chapter) Only 50 to 100 years ago, most Americans grew up and lived out their lives in small towns and rural areas. Indeed, most big cities were collections of small towns. Children were reared within the primary social network of their parents--friends, kin, and organizations in which the family felt acceptance and belonging. Most information came to children from within this primary social network; and those important people were able to censor and sanction--to withhold information that might harm development and sanction children for acting inappropriately in response to information they received. Information from outside a community was minimal and impersonal and thus usually less influential. The economy of the past absorbed the uneducated and undereducated. Thus, most heads of households could provide for their families without an education, and often at least one parent was at home to supervise child behavior and to promote development. The level of development needed was not high. Most children, without a good education, were in a position to carry out their adult tasks and responsibilities--to work, live in families, rear children if they chose to do so, and participate as citizens of their community and the society. This chapter examines child development and the New Haven School-Community Model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)