This brief summarizes the working paper, "The Science of Neglect: The Persistent Absence of Responsive Care Disrupts the Developing Brain," and explains why neglect, or the absence of responsive, supportive care, can affect the formation of the developing brain, impairing later learning, behavior, and health. The brief also includes…

Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

This 2009 KIDS COUNT Data Brief features highlights of the enhanced, mobile-friendly Data Center; data on the 10 key indicators of child well-being for all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and many cities, counties, and school districts; and a summary of this year's essay, which calls for improvements to the nation's ability to design and…

"After School: Connecting Children at Risk With Responsible Adults to Help Reduce Youth Substance Abuse and Other Health-Compromising Behaviors (After School)" helped develop intermediary organizations in Boston, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area in order to create citywide systems of after-school programs. The…

With its roots in clinical and educational psychology, school psychology is an ever-changing field that encompasses a diversity of topics. "The Oxford Handbook of School Psychology" synthesizes the most vital and relevant literature in all of these areas, producing a state-of-the-art, authoritative resource for practitioners,…

This book describes the history of the Head Start program. Encouraged by Sargent Shriver, director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, in February, 1965, the Head Start Planning Commission presented a proposal for a program to the Johnson administration, which promoted it as a nationwide program to serve half a million poor children. By the…

The United States is recognized as leading the industrialized world in violent death rates. The increase in youth violence is primarily attributable to an increase in the "lethality" and not the "frequency" of violent acts because more crimes are being committed with handguns. This chapter reviews the existing literature on…

Childhood injury continues to be a major public health crisis in the United States, with a large percentage of injuries being preventable and controllable. This chapter provides information related to understanding child and youth injury. Studies have shown that injuries affect identifiable high-risk groups. Such host factors that put children at…

This booklet discusses the origins and components of Head Start, a federal project launched in 1965 to help break the cycle of poverty by providing preschool children of low-income families with a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs. The description of the program notes that in fiscal…

Adolescent sexual activity and the resulting pregnancy and transmission of sexually transmitted diseases have been on the rise during the past several decades. This chapter addresses each of the three objectives regarding sexual behavior outlined in the Healthy People 2000 initiative. Background data and trends in adolescent sexual behavior are…

The problem of families' limited access to community early childhood services and information was addressed in this practicum. Negative outcomes for young children and their families in a northeastern city were attributed to difficulties in locating and providing services for the developmental needs of children between birth and age 5. The…

This report describes a seminar designed to develop a better understanding of the problems and needs of working children and children living in the streets, to analyze policy and program experiences in working with such children, and to draft a set of recommendations to help improve the conditions of street and working children in the context of…

As part of a multi-faceted effort, the National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project examined the nature and extent of implementation in key program areas and the quality of crucial child development services in 17 research programs funded early in the initiative. Implementation data were collected through three rounds of site visits,…

Conceived as a state-supported community-sponsored program for families, strengthened by business and service organization support, and designed to work with local educational, child care, and social service agencies, Washington State's Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP, pronounced e-cap) provides a "whole child"…

Hawaii's Health and Education Collaboration Project (HEC) is intended to develop a personnel preparation model that promotes working relationships among trained collaborative providers and keeps families pivotal to the process. This monograph reports on the progress of this family-professional partnership initiative. Following the preface, the…