The "2025 Pro-Kid Policy Agenda for California" is the comprehensive state-level roadmap to ensure that all children have the necessary services and supports to reach their full potential. California has an obligation to end systemic injustices that create barriers to kids of color, as well as kids living in poverty, kids living in…

The Roadmap presents county-level data and rankings on 20 indicators of wellness across five domains: economic development, physical health, mental health and safety, education inputs, and education outcomes. We believe these five domains capture the interconnected conditions and resources that are necessary for a child to succeed, both inside and…

Positive behavioral health outcomes are affected by a variety of factors including social, biological, economic and physical environments. These social determinants of mental health (SDOMH) affect not only individual children but the communities and neighborhoods in which children are expected to live, play and thrive. The State must ensure…

The focus of this brief is on the education of unaccompanied immigrant children arriving from Central America and Mexico, fleeing violence and poverty in their countries. Upon arrival, these children encounter a complicated immigration legal system, while having to navigate a new society within an anti-immigrant sociopolitical context. In recent…

Despite trauma being widespread and detrimental to the well-being of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, few early care and education (ECE) programs and state systems are prepared to offer care that is "trauma-informed"--with all adults able to recognize and respond to the impact of trauma on young children, and to infuse trauma…

Despite trauma being widespread and detrimental to the well-being of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, few early care and education (ECE) programs and state systems are prepared to offer care that is "trauma-informed"--with all adults able to recognize and respond to the impact of trauma on young children, and to infuse trauma…

This document, based on the statistical yearbook, "Children in Israel 2014," presents data on the population of young children in Israel. The document presents a current picture of the well-being of young children in Israel intended to assist policy-makers and practitioners to understand the situation of this group of children and to…

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS)--a strategy to improve families' access to high-quality child care--assess the quality of child care programs, offer incentives and assistance to programs to improve their ratings, and give information to parents about the quality of child care. These systems are operating in a growing number of…

Responses (N=239 from 12 states) to a cost survey on support services for children with disabilities indicated an average per annum expenditure of $5,282 per family (excluding surgeries) and a cost of $95,083 to raise a child to age eighteen. Options must be developed for the increasing number of individuals who find themselves medically…

This document presents witness testimonies and prepared statements from the Congressional hearing called to examine the effects of homelessness on children and families. In their opening statements, Representatives George Miller and Dan Coats emphasize that homelessness threatens the physical health and safety of children, places them at risk of…

In an effort to address child welfare service problems, the state of Kansas shifted responsibility to private contractors in 1996. Despite a considerable investment of new resources and significant improvements, serious problems remain. This report explores what is needed to "level the playing field" for the roughly 6,700 children in…

One requirement of The California Children and Families First Act (Proposition 10) is "to facilitate the creation and implementation of an integrated, comprehensive, and collaborative system of information and services to enhance optimal early childhood development." This report provides policymakers and others with working information…

Describes family support programs implemented by major corporations and labor organizations such as the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters and Corning Glass. Relates the effects of child neglect and the housing crisis on a nine-year-old boy in New York. (FMW)

This document contains witness testimonies and prepared statements from the Congressional hearing called to examine the impact of divorce on children and families. Opening statements are included from Congressmen George Miller, Dan Coats, and Thomas Bliley. Witnesses providing testimony include: (1) Laurie Dixon, managing editor of "The…

Argues that the failure of programs for developmentally impaired children lies in the type of programs developed, their mode of delivery, and the organization of the care delivery system itself. Suggests that direct community and family involvement would be more effective than additional funding or expansion of current programs. (FMW)