GARY B. MELTON is Director of the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. A professor of psychology, he is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and eight of its divisions.ROSS A. THOMPSON is a Carl A. Happold Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Nebraska. He is Director of the university's developmental psychology program.MARK A. SMALL is Professor of Psychology and research associate at the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life at Clemson University. He is also a licensed attorney.

• Overview The Conceptual Foundation: Why Child Protection Should be Neighborhood-Based and Child-Centered by Gary B. Melton and Ross A. Thompson Some Initial Ideas About Implementation of a Child-Centered, Neighborhood-Based Child Protection System: Impressions from Focus Groups in Nebraska by Alan J. Tomkins and Kathryn A. Olson The Social Context: What Comes Naturally in Child Protection by Susan P. Limber and Patricia Y. Hashima The Nature and Efficacy of Child-Centered, Neighborhood-Based Child Protection Programs: The Record Thus Far by Sarah L. Cook, Dickon Reppucci, and Mark A. Small Foundations for a Child-Centered, Neighborhood-Based Child Protection System Neighborhood-Based Services: Lessons from the Settlement House Movement and the War on Poverty by Murray Levine and Adeline Levine The Cross-Cultural Context: Lessons from Community Development Projects by Clifford R. O'Donnell, Kathleen Wilson, and Roland G. Tharp The Political Context: Lessons from Efforts to Reform Child and Family Services by Josephine Gittler The Legal Context of Child Protection: A Proposal for a Child-Centered Policy by Mark A. Small, Catherine A. Crosby-Currie, and N. Dickon Reppucci Toward a Child-Oriented Child Protection System by Ross A. Thompson and Mary Fran Flood Some Current Applications Exemplary Neighborhood-Based Programs for Child Protection by Kathleen Wilson and Gary B. Melton Healthy Start: A Statewide System of Family Support for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect--And More by Loretta Fuddy and Ross A. Thompson The Self-Help Movement and Neighborhood Support for Troubled Families by Virginia Murphy-Berman and Gary B. Melton Research Issues: New Methods for New Problems: Client Life-Histories as a Construct for Evaluation of Child and Youth Services by Edward P. Mulvey and William Gardner Next Steps Creating Caring Communities: The Need for Structural Change by Mark A. Small, Gary B. Melton, Kathryn A. Olson, and Alan J. Tomkins Appendix A: Member Affiliate Centers of the Consortium on Children, Families, and the Law Appendix B: Reports of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect Appendix C: The U.S. Advisory Board's Proposed National Child Protection Policy Appendix D: The Nebraska Child Protection Commission's Proposed Safe Children Policy Act Appendix E: The Nebraska Family Policy Act