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Program Child Care: In the foster care program child care child welfare has developed and perfected a variety of methods or types of care and, within the range of available resources, it seeks to "fit" the type of care and method of service or "treatment" to the individual needs of a particular child or family. For example, family home care, of a particular quality, would usually be seen as the preferred care for an infant during the period of time needed to facilitate his placement for adoption. An agency-operated group home staffed with skilled "counselors" and other specialists, or a highly specialized institution, might be a better choice for a disturbed adolescent who had experienced serious rejection by a mentally ill mother.
In the United States, there are increasing group day care facilities, particularly under program child cares such as "Head-Start" and "Get Set," which have the objective 'of breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. These group day care centers may be called day nurseries, day care centers, child care centers, or nursery schook Not all nursery schools are true day care centers, but any good day care program child care for children of nursery school age will have an educational component in its program child care indistinguishable from that of a good nursery school. Because sound early childhood education is an important feature of a good day nursery as well as of a good nursery school, the distinction between the two kinds of program child cares tends to blur.
This definition is problem-focused, emphasizing prevention and remedy. It recognizes the value of strengthening a child's own home where possible. Where this is not possible, a variety of substitute living situations is provided.
Child welfare services are directed to the social problem of deprivation of parental care. As the accompanying chart illustrates, they are designed to help with society's child-rearing task in three important ways: (1) to substitute for parental care either partially or wholly according to a child's individual needs; (2) to supplement the care that a child receives, or to compensate for certain inadequacies or limitations in parental care; and (3) to support or reinforce the ability of parents to meet their children's needs.
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