Family Policy and Practice Signature Area

Students who are interested in the Family Policy and Practice focus may take coursework and conduct research on public policies that affect the well-being and quality of life of individuals and their families across the life span, and the communities in which they live.

 

Overview and Objectives

Particular emphasis is placed on those families and communities where quality of life is constrained by economic, social, and/or developmental circumstances. Students build skills in the understanding and analysis of local, state, and federal policies that affect children and families. The program exposes students to a broad range of theoretical perspectives and equips them with strong research skills. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the interdisciplinary nature of the department; e.g. child development; early childhood education and special education; family studies; life span studies. In addition, the program is designed to take advantage of support areas outside the department; e.g. economics, political science, and sociology. Coursework is tailored to meet student's specific career objectives, interests, and needs and to promote student experiences in on-going departmental research interests.

Graduates emphasizing Family Policy are expected to demonstrate knowledge in any or all of theses arenas: (a) family systems and their relationships to environment/ institutions including an understanding of the relationship between family development, household resources, community support services and housing; (b) individual and family needs over the life span through an understanding of management processes; (c) public policy evaluation and development through an understanding of the effects of public policies on families; (d) management of human and material resources through development of skills to assess human, material, and financial resource needs and conditions of individuals and families; (e) consumer and family economic well-being; and (f) the use of human and material resources to improve quality of life.

Faculty in Family Policy bring important strengths to the specialization with expertise in housing and housing counseling; family economics; public policy and welfare reform; financial management and counseling; household production; economics of aging; family resource management; at-home-income generation; rural households and community vitality; and, families at-risk of poverty and homelessness.