There is a great disparity in early care and education opportunities between homeless children and their peers. The high mobility of families who are homeless and a lack of transportation to and from a center-based program present significant barriers to participation in early education. The authors describe a unique approach to meeting the needs…

Comprehensive, integrated services for infants, toddlers, and families are essential for optimal child development, and collaboration across systems is increasingly important to maximize limited resources. The authors describe three successful initiatives in Oklahoma that use a collaborative systems approach to providing direct services to young…

Starting to be implemented as of the 1960s, early intervention programs are frequently employed at the present time. Researchers develop and implement early intervention programs in various subjects and areas. These programs may be family-based, school-based, community-based, or a combination of them. This study aimed at comparing the early…

Families are one of the fastest-growing groups affected by homelessness in the U.S. Very young children are profoundly affected by the loss of a consistent living situation, most especially in the first 3 years when routine and familiarity confer a sense of safety and security. The stress of homelessness--and the multiple traumas that frequently…

As support for intervening early in the lives of vulnerable children has risen in the United States in recent years, so has interest in home-visitation programs. Home visitation is increasingly recognized for its potential to foster early child development and competent parenting, as well as to reduce risk for child abuse and neglect and other…

The Children's Headline Indicators are a set of measures designed to focus policy attention and to help guide and evaluate policy development on key issues for children's health, development and wellbeing in 19 priority areas. They were endorsed by health, community and disability services ministers and education systems officials in 2006.…

This article is intended to provide early childhood providers with a concise overview of emerging emotional development in young children (birth-5), the important role of primary caregivers, and the link between parenting, emotional development, and behavior. Specific suggestions that have been shared with urban Head Start mothers are offered,…

The physical, social, and economic health and well-being of adults and society are strongly influenced by experiences in early childhood. The most cost-efficient time to build foundational skills, to assure the healthy development of all young children, to break the cycle of disadvantage for vulnerable children, and to prevent achievement and…

Reports such as this typically begin with a statistic designed to highlight a problem. The girls and boys to whom this edition of "The State of the World's Children" is dedicated are not problems. Rather, each is a sister, brother or friend who has a favourite dish, song or game; a daughter or son with dreams and the desire to fulfil…

State coordinators of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs completed a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT, analysis that examined 12 areas within state EHDI programs. For the family support area, 47 EHDI coordinators listed 255 items, and themes were identified within each category. A threats,…

In Paraguay conditions for rural children living in poverty are often difficult. At least 14% of children age 5 years and younger show moderate to severe physical stunting (UNICEF 2009). More than half of the children in primary school have repeated at least one grade by the time they complete the sixth grade. Rural families living in poverty, who…

MDRC is conducting the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project under a contract with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As part of the multisite Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project, MDRC,…

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…

Children living in poverty face considerable developmental risks. This report presents interim results from an evaluation of parental employment and educational services delivered within a two-generational, early childhood program targeting low-income families who are expecting a child or who have a child under age 3. This study is part of the…

As part of a comprehensive system of support for families with young children, home visiting programs help to ensure that families facing obstacles--such as those caused by stress, language barriers, geographic and social isolation, and poverty--receive the support they need to nurture their child's healthy development. Efforts to support home…