ABSTRACT

No longer can we compartmentalize youth and isolate the relevance of family, peers, school, work settings, and community.

Karen Bogenschneider, Stephen Small, and Daid Riley, 1993

Vulnerable Children An estimated 9.2 million children are considered “at-risk” in the United States (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1999). In today’s society, children and adolescents experience a tremendous amount of stress, much of which is not within their control. In an extensive study, Sandler and Ramsay (1980) found that loss events (e.g., death of a parent, sibling, or friend; divorce; and separation) were the primary promoters of crisis reactions in children and adolescents, followed by family troubles (e.g., abuse, neglect, loss of job). Lower on the scale were environmental changes (e.g., moving or attending a new school), sibling difficulties, physical harm (e.g., illness, accidents, and violence), and disasters (e.g., fire, floods, hurricanes, or earthquakes). Kashani and Simonds (1979) maintained, “the life stresses for children are probably different from those for adults and center mainly around the behavior of significant adults” (p. 149).