Families who live in poverty face disadvantages that can hinder their children's development in many ways, write Greg Duncan, Katherine Magnuson, and Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal. As they struggle to get by economically, and as they cope with substandard housing, unsafe neighborhoods, and inadequate schools, poor families experience more stress in…

Argues that home visiting and related services have been shaped and constrained by the tendency to use services as a substitute for adequate income and economic opportunity, by ambivalent attitudes toward poor people, and by a preoccupation with the effects of poverty on child rearing. Proposes basic principles of practice that should guide early…

Describes goals, beneficiaries, offerings, locations, and providers of six current school-linked service efforts. Identifies several integrating elements needed for systemic reforms to make school-linked services produce more successful outcomes for children and families. Programmatic initiatives must complement deep-reaching changes in ways…

Examines the relationship between government programs and individuals within the family context, describing past and present efforts of the federal government toward integrated services. Emphasis is on initiatives of the Department of Health and Human Services. Current shifts in primary responsibility are translated into increasing state and local…

The author documents pervasive racial disparities in the health of American children and analyzes how and how much those disparities contribute to racial gaps in school readiness. She explores a broad sample of health problems common to U.S. children, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, asthma, and lead poisoning, as well as maternal…