Food assistance programs--including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps), the National School Lunch Program, and the School Breakfast Program--have been remarkably successful at their core mission: reducing food insecurity among low-income children. Moreover, writes Craig Gundersen, SNAP in particular has also been…

Low rates of college completion are a major problem in the United States. Less than 60 percent of students at four-year colleges graduate within six years, and at some colleges, the graduation rate is less than 10 percent. Additionally, many students enter higher education ill-prepared to comprehend college-level course material. Some estimates…

Education is important for all children, but even more so for children with disabilities, whose social and economic opportunities may be limited. In this article, Laudan Aron and Pamela Loprest assess how well the nation's education system is serving students with disabilities. Aron and Loprest trace the evolution of the special education system…

To create and maintain a high-quality home visiting program, administrators need to consider a range of issues including the skills and qualities of home visitors; the preservice and inservice training needs of home visitors; the supervision and support that home visitors need; and the implications of stressful working conditions for home…

Describes the range of health or social service home visiting programs in the United States, examining the characteristics of successful programs, the outcomes produced by such programs, and the future direction of home visitation. Recommends that home visiting programs be voluntary, flexible, culturally sensitive, well-staffed, and realistic in…

Argues that although home visiting programs themselves have mixed results in addressing family health and welfare needs, such programs, as part of a comprehensive, family-focused health and social services system, can have an important impact on the health and welfare of children. (MDM)

Examines the current understanding of the most promising and effective means of serving families. It highlights the family-centered service approach, explaining family support services and family preservation services. Evaluations of the two types of family-centered services are reviewed, and issues related to planning and service delivery are…

Drug-exposed infants are having a profound impact on the child welfare system. When community resources are not available to meet the needs of these children and families, requirements of current child welfare laws cannot be met. The range of services necessary for effective child welfare responses is discussed. (SLD)

Rebecca Blank explores a weakness of the welfare reforms of the mid-1990s--the failure of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program to address the plight of so-called "hard to employ" single mothers and their children. TANF has moved many women on the welfare caseload into work, but the services it provides are not intensive or flexible…

Describes the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program, a parent-education program that includes home visiting and reports the results of evaluations of two randomized trials of PAT. Results from one of the studies suggested that home visits produced about a one-month developmental advantage per 10 visits for participating children. (SLD)

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 the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), a two-year home-based early-education intervention program designed to help parents with limited formal education prepare their children for school. Presents findings from a two-site HIPPY study, a one-site case study, and a three-site qualitative study. (SLD)

Provides an overview of home health visiting programs in Europe, with special emphasis on Denmark and Great Britain, where home health visiting has been in place for decades. Concludes that European home health visiting programs have been successful because they are an integral part of comprehensive, universal maternal and child health systems.…

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)

Reviews six federally funded in-kind public assistance programs designed to mitigate effects of poverty on children: (1) food stamps; (2) the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children; (3) school nutrition programs; (4) Medicaid; (5) Head Start; and (6) housing assistance. Evidence indicates these programs achieve their…