March 13, 2019

The Other 23 Hours: Child Care Work with Emotionally Disturbed Children in a Therapeutic Milieu (Taylor & Francis), a groundbreaking publication for care staff working with challenging children and youth, celebrates 50 years in print. The book was co-written by James K. Whittaker, the School’s Charles O. Cressey Endowed Professor of Social Work Emeritus, along with Larry K. Brendtro and the late Dr. Albert E. Trieschman.

The book provides a practical and authoritative guide for care staff who work directly with children and youth in a variety of care settings. Since it first appeared in 1969, it has been in continuous print in English as well as four other languages—Danish, Dutch, German and Japanese—making it accessible to diverse cultural communities. 

The book includes chapters on establishing relationship “beachheads,” managing behaviors at certain times of the day (wake-up, mealtime, bedtime), understanding the stages of a temper tantrum, the therapeutic use of games and activities, and how to observe and record behavior. 

“Children learn in various ways,” said Whittaker, “and the group-living environment provides rich opportunities for teaching, extending well beyond the hour spent in therapy and the special education classroom.”  

The book’s anniversary is being recognized in a variety of ways. The professional journal, Residential Treatment for Children & Youth, published a series of commentaries on the book’s historical significance and implications for future practice research.

Whittaker will be part of a five-person panel discussion with co-author Brendtro and other colleagues from Cornell, The University of Victoria and the University of Maryland’s School of Social Work at a symposium at the annual meeting of the Association of Children’s Residential Centers in New Orleans April 23–26. He has also been invited to deliver the opening plenary address in October at a conference held at the University of Oviedo in Spain where top practitioners and policymakers will discuss recent in-country research findings, along with innovations from a number of countries, that will help inform the future of therapeutic residential services in that country.

At the time of its publication, The Other 23 Hours was a watershed in child care. It explored in detail the relationships and non-verbal behaviors modeled by staff who had not been trained in child care that provided a therapeutic milieu for children. Although other publications had touched on staff contributions to residential child care, this was the first to focus exclusively on staff contributions.