474 CurrentPubhcauons
weekly fanuly therapy, and aftercare The last
chapter IS a succmct summary of Issues con-
frontmg the theraptst, tncludmg the sttgma
associated with the pamcular type of client,
confidenttahty, involuntary chents. and prob-
lems anstng from differences between the
theraptst’s value system and that of the chent
and/or the client’s farmly There are also 37
appendices, comprtsmg about one-thtrd of the
book, which consist of the various aids to be
used tn therapy that are discussed tn the text
A bnef list of references and an index com-
plete the book
Advocating for the Child in Protection
Proceed&s: A Handbook for Lawyers and
Court Appointed Special Advocates by
Donald N Duquette
D C Heath and Company ( 125 Spnng S-t,
Lexington, Massachusetts 02173), 1990, 160
pp , hardcover-$19 95
One consequence of the stressors expen-
enced by famtltes m the United States In the
latter half of the twentieth century has been
increased mvolvement of children m legal
proceedmgs This has given nse to a need for
a new type of actor tn the legal system-
someone who 1s able to represent chtldren who
are mvolved tn llttgatton. who can pursue the
“best Interest of the child” without regard to
other factors Lawyers traditionally have not
been tramed to do this, furthermore, they and
other actors do not have the background tn
child welfare The court must serve as the
tmparttal arbiter, balancing the nghts of par-
ents, children, and government Soctal agen-
cies, whtch tnevltably become mvolved, have
limited resources, which they must spread
among many children Lawyers also focus
narrowly on the specific interests of mdtvtd-
ual parttctpants, such as parents or other par-
ttes This situation has led to the CASA
movement CASAs are lay volunteers who
are appomted by the court to advocate for
children This movement has grown substan-
tially m the United States throughout the
Abstract
1980s Research has shown that these child
advocates have been very effective m repre-
sentmg theu young chents. however, thetr role
in the legal process IS not well understood
The present volume IS to a large degree a ‘how
to” book for child advocates
The author IS a cluucal professor of law
and Duector of the Child Advocacy Law
Cltmc at the Umverstty of Mtchtgan Law
School, which has represented children tn
abuse and neglect cases m Mlchgan since
1976 Thts volume presents findmgs from a
recent University of Michigan Law School
project In 1987 the Unvterstty of Michigan
Bush Program m Child Development and
Public Poltcy sponsored a Child Advocacy
Work Group composed of graduate fellows
from law, social work, pohtrcal science. and
psychology For the ensuing two years par-
ticipants simultaneously examined the hter-
ature and represented children m protection
proceedings What they learned from the
combmatton of study and practice has been
incorporated into this book, which IS aimed
at four audiences
First, It IS to assist the growing cadre of
CASAs, to show them how to perform their
special function at the various stages of legal
proceedings It IS also intended to assist law-
yers tn representing children more effectively
by demonstrating how the child advocate
functions In the tradtttonal legal context Thud,
Judges and social servtce personnel are of-
fered a different perspective on the process
of pursuing “the best interest of the child.”
as are acadenucs m social work, psychology,
and the law
The book conststs of seventeen very short
chapters, an Eptlogue. and two appendices
The fust stx chapters compnse Part One, ‘The
Context of Chid Advocacy ” The brtef, four-
page mtroductton outlines the book’s purpose
and plan, and tt details the author’s view of
the proper role and quahficattons of the child
advocate The second chapter provides hu-
toncal background Chapter 3, one of the
longer chapters, describes prevultng models
of CASA programs-the guardian ad htem,
attorney team, fnend of the court, and mon-
itor Chapter 4 succinctly states the phtlo-
soph~cal problems underlytng the current need
 Current Pubhcatlons Abstract 375

for child advocates In the Umted States ent new funding sources and to provide “a
Chapter 5 IS more descnptlve, and It provides statement of where the field IS In l988-what
examples of problems typically encountered has been done and what still needs to be done
m representing children of vanous ages It UI the nunds of people very active m the field”
concludes with a recommendation that chll- (I I) They Intend it to ‘be a document that
dren aged I4 and older should be presumed can be reviewed m 5 or IO years to see how
capable of deterrmmng theu own mterests and much progress we have made. how percep-
that advocates should be required to represent tions have changed, and how much has been
the wishes of these children Chapter 6. a accomphshed ”
plvotal chapter, outlmes five major roles of To generate the Ideas behind these propos-
the child advocate and ten dlmenslons for de- als, Fmkelhor and his coauthors contacted a
finmg the advocate’s tasks The SIX chapters large number of researchers. practitioners,
m Part Two apply the ten dlmenslons to each actlvlsts, and pohcymakers who had worked
procedural stage of the child protectlon pro- m the field for a long time and who are rea-
ceedmg usmg case examples One case IS utl- sonably respresentatlve of the various do-
hzed to analyze the steps taken by the ad- mams and perspeclves, but the Ilst, over four
vocate at the prellmlnary heanng. pretnal dozen mdlvlduals, emphasized research Re-
conference, trial, dtsposltlonal heanng, and spondents were given nine questions intended
review heanngs, and a second case IS used to stimulate them to examme progress and
to deal with the advocoate’s role at the per- prlontles m the field as a whole rather than
manency planning heanng Part Three con- only m their own speclalmes Goals stressed
tams three chapters on spectfic kinds of prob- by the questlons were prevention. Interven-
lems-physical abuse of the child. sexual tion. adbancmg public interest In the area and
abuse, and child neglect-and two chapters solvmg some Important problems of research
on the skills required of advocates and the methodlogy
obstacles they face Appendix A IS a proposal Although there was conslderable diversity
for leglslatlon and Appendix B IS a checklist In the responses, certain suggestions were
of the ten dlmenslons with key questions to made repeatedly Respondents then were asked
be addressed The book also contains a bnef to provide more detail on possible Imple-
index mentatlon Based on this Information, the au-
thors comphed a senes of proposals for re-
search, which was circulated among most of
the ongrnal respondents for further comment,
Stopping Family Violence: Research with a request to rank order them m terms of
Priorities for the Coming Decade by David Importance The order tn which the proposals
Fmkelhor with Gerald T Hotalmg and Kerstl are presented m the volume reflects the pnor-
Yllo ItIes assigned by the respondents, although
the authors pomt out that the differences tn
Sage Pubhcatlons. Inc (21 I I West Hillcrest the rankmgs were not large Fmkelhor and
Dnve, Newbury Park, Cahfomla 9l320), his colleagues expected that their questions
1988, 130 pp , hardcover-$19 95 would encourage the respondents to *thmk
btg ” In some cases respondents were m-
This concise volume represents an attempt strutted to disregard the costs when suggest-
to define a research agenda for the 1990s It mg a project, and m other cases the figure
arose out of the collaborattve efforts of a $500,000--“a healthy-sized budget for a re-
proactive chantable foundation with a long search project” was suggested The authors
history of support for work m the area and a were dlsappomted to note that ‘apparently as
research center speclahzmg m the study of a result of a long era m which support for
family violence The authors compiled the social science research has been quite hm-
catalogue of research proposals presented here Ited, researchers and pohcymakers seem to
to serve two pnmary alms to attract and on- thmk mstmctlvely m modest terms n The au-