Non-parental arrangements for young children serve a dual function as supports for parental activities and educational inputs for children. However, arrangements that are suited to meet families' specific needs and preferences are sometimes in tension with experts' definitions of "quality." Researchers and policymakers increasingly…

Proposition 10, also known as the California Children and Families Act of 1998, is the legislation for creating Kern County Children and Families Commission (First 5 Kern). Over the past 15 years, First 5 Kern administered a trust fund from a $.50 per pack tax on cigarettes or equivalent tobacco products to support children ages 0-5 and their…

In Australia, emphasis in early childhood education policy is placed on the importance of the role of the family as a child's first educator, and finding effective ways to raise the effectiveness of parents in supporting children's learning, development and well-being. International studies demonstrate that the home learning environment (HLE)…

Scientific discoveries indicated the importance of brain growth during the first 5 years of child life. To support early childhood development, California voter passed Proposition 10 in 1998 to collect a 50 cent per pack tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products. Kern County Children and Families Commission (First 5 Kern) receives funding from…

The purpose of the study was to examine the perceived needs and correlates of Maine parents of premature infants related to the chronological distance from the NICU. The study focused on identifying the perceived service needs of parents of premature children and how these needs changed over time, revealed the relationships between perceived…

Background: This study examined relations among cumulative risk, nurturant and involved parenting, and behavior problems across early childhood. Methods: Cumulative risk, parenting, and behavior problems were measured in a sample of low-income toddlers participating in a family-centered program to prevent conduct problems. Results: Path analysis…

This is the fifth and final report of a longitudinal study examining the use of a comprehensive system of prevention and early intervention services in Palm Beach County, and how its use relates to the outcomes of children and families living in four targeted geographic areas (TGAs) with high rates of poverty, teen pregnancy, crime, and child…

This final report of the Family Development Research Program contains a description of the program's comprehensive family service approach to promoting child development and the longitudinal findings on program effectiveness. The program offered comprehensive services to 108 families which were low in both income and education. Services included:…

"Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of Life" presents research findings on the effects of early childhood programs and practices in the first decade of life and their implications for policy development and reform. Leading scholars in the multidisciplinary field of human development and in early childhood learning…

Fifth in a series of the Child and Family Resource Program (CFRP) evaluation reports, this volume focuses on the infant/toddler component of CFRP and its impact on children approximately a year and a half after they enter the program. A brief summary of the CFRP evaluation design and preliminary findings presented in previous evaluation reports is…

For more than a decade, Florida's Palm Beach County has been building an infrastructure of prevention and early intervention services to promote and support the healthy development and school readiness of children from birth to age 8. The county began this effort with a set of programs focused on serving families in four targeted geographic areas…

Children whose temperamental traits are significantly different from the average risk abuse or neglect from parents who do not recognize this "differentness" as legitimate expressions of individuality. This paper discusses how parents can learn to cope with "difficult" or temperamental infants, by explaining the work of the…

The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) provides 4-year-old children from low-income families with a comprehensive preschool experience that emphasizes their developmental, health, and nutritional needs, involves their parents, and responds to their family's social service needs. This annual report on the ECEAP discusses the…

This article addresses the dynamics of parent-child interactions and their potential influence on the development of social competence among children with Down syndrome (DS). The authors argue that a strong parent-child relationship is fundamental for building the social competence of children with DS and the integration and inclusion of these…

The Syracuse University Family Development Research Program (FDRP), which ran from 1969 to 1975, provided support and day care for five years to very deprived families with newborn children. Participants, recruited in the third trimester of pregnancy, were low-education families with an annual income of less than $5,000, 85 percent of which were…