Health care reaches more children under age three in the United States than any other family-facing system and represents the most common entry point for developmental assessment of and services for children. In this article, Adam Schickedanz and Neal Halfon examine how well the child health care system promotes healthy child development early in…

Young children who enter school without sufficient social and emotional learning (SEL) skills may have a hard time learning. Yet early childhood educators say they do not get enough training to effectively help children develop such skills. In this article, Megan McClelland, Shauna Tominey, Sara Schmitt, and Robert Duncan examine the theory and…

What do we know about young children with delays and disabilities, and how can we help them succeed in prekindergarten through third grade? To begin with, Kathleen Hebbeler and Donna Spiker write, identifying children with delays and disabilities to receive specialized services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act poses several…

Most of the authors in this issue of "Future of Children" focus on a single strategy for helping both adults and children that could become a component of two-generation programs. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, on the other hand, look at actual programs with an explicit two-generation focus that have been tried in the…

Discusses the limitations of current databases documenting the prevalence and effects of child exposure to domestic violence and describes a model for the collection of reliable and valid prevalence data, the Spousal Assault Replication Program, which uses data collected by the police and university researchers. (SLD)

Summarizes findings about the effects of domestic violence on children and reviews issues related to the identification and assessment of such children. Discusses the goals and models of service delivery, intervention approaches, and what is known about the effectiveness of these therapies. Addresses some challenges in working in this field. (SLD)

This theme issue provides a summary of six evaluations of home-visiting models that have been implemented nationally. These model programs represent home-visiting programs across the country that help parents provide children with the best start in life. (SLD)

Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of an employer-based health insurance system and the effects of such a system on children. Examines employer decisions regarding coverage, financial limitations, insurer and health plan practices that affect the availability and continuity of coverage, and several new models for providing health insurance…

Reviews proposals to reform the system by which public agencies receive and respond to reports of abuse and neglect, highlighting and describing one reform approach. The community-based partnership for child protection emphasizes targeting interventions by child protective services toward high-risk families while building collaborative community…

This article describes how school districts that have implemented the School of the 21st Century program have used a mixture of parent fees and public dollars to fund it. It proposes an ideal financing model for the program, linking child care and public education for an accessible child care system. (SLD)

Analyzes a number of financing options commonly proposed to pay for health care reform, considering the costs and benefits to society as a whole. Outlines criteria that can be used to evaluate various revenue options, and discusses the effect that these plans would have on children, especially those not presently covered by health insurance. (MDM)

Discusses treatment modalities for drug-abusing women. The following are barriers that prevent women, particularly pregnant women, from getting treatment they need: (1) lack of programs admitting women; (2) lack of programs tailored to women; and (3) fear and isolation experienced by drug-abusing women. (SLD)

Argues against placing the school in a lead position for delivery of services; and supports a community-based model in which diverse service providers, administrators, and institutions work collaboratively in a system of linked services. A community-based system would involve a consortium of existing agencies or a newly created entity. (SLD)