BOOK REVIEWS

There have been major changes in the field of child welfare recently. Though some of these changes have been more ideological than programmatic, the fact remains that the landscape of child welfare has been dramatically altered in the last several years (Laird & Hartman, 1985). In part, these changes have come about in response to some well-known problems that existed in the field. Foster care drift, that is, children remaining in foster care for years without clearly articulated goals for reunification, adoption, or long-term alternative care, is one example. Regardless, the delivery of child welfare services today is very different from the services delivered 10 or 15 years ago. For example, one change that has been both ideological and programmatic is the increasing use of family-centered practice and preventive services in order to avoid placement of children. A second change is the current effort to develop empirically based risk-assessment instruments in order to enhance decisions made by child protective services workers. Finally, there are increasing attempts to evaluate the outcomes of child welfare services for children and families