From the Director
Ed Mullen

This issue of Practice & Research is longer than previous issues. It features the Center's current research studies. The articles provide useful summaries of the Center's research programs and give relevant references for those who wish to pursue the topics in further detail. Four new studies are described and one ongoing study is updated: From Research to Practice: The CDISC (Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children in Clinical Services; Evaluation of a Protocol for Identification of Woman Abuse in Families with Allegations of Child Abuse or Neglect; The Empirical Development of an Early Child Maltreatment Prevention Program; Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: A Group Intervention; and A Study of Suicidal Ideation and Behavior in Preadolescents.

A fifth study, The Odyssey Project: A Descriptive and Prospective Study of Children and Youth in Residential Treatment, Group Homes and Therapeutic Foster Care will be implemented in 1995. This national study is being conducted by the Child Welfare League of America, Inc. (CWLA) with the cooperation and support of its members. Patnck A. Curtis, PhD, Director of Research, CWLA, is Principal Investigator; Cynthia Papa- Lentini, PhD, Director of Research and Program Evaluation, Berkshire Farm Center for Children and Youth, and Gina Alexander, MS, MSW, Vice President, the Villages of Indiana, Bloomington, Indiana are Co- Principal Investigators; and Lisa A. Lunghofer, PhD, is Project Director. All CWLA member agencies with residential treatment, group home or therapeutic foster care programs have been invited to form a consortium that will provide data on their respective programs. JBFCS has agreed to participate under the aegis of the Center. Bruce A. Grellong, PhD, JBFCS Chief Psychologist, is Research Coordinator and Neil B. Guterman, PhD, CUSSW Assistant Professor and Center faculty affiliate, is Research Director. The JBFCS Jerome M. Goldsmith Center, Hawthorne Cedar Knolls and Linden Hill programs are potential sites. The study seeks to describe what types of children and youth are being treated in which types of settings and with which types of services, and to examine a variety of outcomes.

The Center has had an active and productive year, thanks to the contributions of the Center's Development Council, Professional Advisory Committee, faculty and staff affiliates, and students. I am pleased to welcome Seymour R. Askin, Jr, JBFCS President, as a new member of the Development Council, and Dr. Annaclare van Dalen, as a new member of the Professional Advisory Committee. New Center faculty affiliates are Drs. Kathryn Conroy Idns Andrew Hamid, Andre Ivanoff, Randy Magen, Lawrence Martin and Barbara Simon.

In September, Ms. Jennifer Magnabosco returned to her previously held position as the Center's Administrative Coordinator. Ms. Magnabosco most recently was a Research Associate at the University of Chicago Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. Ms. Magnabosco serves as Managing Editor for this issue of the newsletter. All of the Center affiliates thank Mr. Karun Singh for his excellent service as Administrative Coordinator during 1993-94. And, I am pleased to welcome CUSSW doctoral students Dara Kerkonan and Steve Scher to the Center.

A description of recent Center activities is included in this issue. We are pleased to announce the recent publication of Practitioner-Researcher Partnerships: Building Knowledge From, In, and For Practice, which contains original chapters and revised papers presented at the Center's March 3, 1993 Conference, "Knowledge for Practice: Practitioners and Researchers as Partners. " Excerpts from the Foreword and Table of Contents are reproduced.

We are eager to hear from our readers and welcome suggestions for areas of study or collaboration.