Helping America's most vulnerable children and parents

This article focuses on ways the government should allocate resources in order to support America's most vulnerable children and parents. Government policies on helping children seek to achieve many outcomes, but four are especially important: (a) protecting children's basic physical safety and mental safety (i.e., sense of emotional security in relationships with one's parents) during childhood; (b) ensuring that children do not suffer from serious mental health problems that impair their adjustment and ability to function well at home, at school, and in social relations; (c) helping all children acquire the academic skills needed for economic "success" (i.e., having the capacity to earn a "middle class" income); and (d) increasing equal opportunity for economic and social mobility. In trying to achieve these four outcomes, policymakers must decide how to allocate resources among programs that focus primarily on the child, such as preschool and K-12 education; programs seeking to improve parenting, such as home visiting; and programs that provide economic resources, such as cash and subsidies, to families. This article elaborates on this approach. (PsycINFO Database Record