Thursday's Child

State agencies finance and administer a range of services - from foster care for abused and neglected children to prisons to long-term care of the elderly. How can large public agencies and small community organizations plan better to meet the needs of the people they serve? Traditionally, useful and timely data for planning purposes have been in short supply. Recent research linking data across a number of public agencies has highlighted some significant findings about state services and the people who use them.

A shocking percentage of American youth run away from home by age 18, according to a new snapshot of runaways to be published by the Urban Institute, and many do so before turning 14. Roughly half of all youth who leave home without parental permission or knowledge do so more than once, with girls more likely to be repeat runaways.Many runaways become homeless because family reunification is not an option. Other young people end up on the street or in a shelter because they are abandoned by their parents, are forced to leave home, age out of foster care, or are released from the juvenile justice system.

As the federal government, localities, and housing authorities seek to revitalize scarred inner-city neighborhoods, a unique set of responses is needed to aid public housing's most vulnerable families. The Chicago Family Case Management Demonstration may have some innovative answers.

Federal and state budgets are under unprecedented pressure: deficits are ballooning, programs are being cut back, and tax rolls are anemic, or worse. As part of the federal government's response to the severe recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) cushioned state budget cuts, particularly in education, and included investments in children and families -- yet next steps after ARRA are unknown. New research by Urban Institute and Brookings Institution analysts reveals how children -- collectively and at different ages -- fare in the federal budget and how federal and state spending mesh. Drawing on these forthcoming reports, a panel of distinguished experts will begin a vital and timely exchange on how the nation can, amid severe fiscal and budgetary challenges, make the wisest public investments in its children.

The nation's urban service systems for children and families often struggle with conflicting goals, inadequate resources, and intense but temporary public attention during turmoil and tragedies. This forum will examine the many challenges of systems reform-through the lenses of education, health care and child welfare-and the steps, partnerships, and strategies required to help foster the successful development of vulnerable children and families.

On the horizon is a push to monitor outcomes for children and youth across the systems that serve them, including education, child welfare, and healthcare. With healthcare reforms and changes to the No Child Left Behind Act looming, and as state child welfare agencies strive to comply with federal requirements, ideas and insights about performance measurement are especially timely.

One fifth of school children have at least one foreign-born parent. Soon, more than 30 percent of all students will come from homes where English is not the primary language. This panel discusses neighborhoods where immigrant families live and how these neighborhoods affect children's opportunities, including schooling; how NCLB has shifted school policies and practices;whether large urban school districts and new immigrant destinations need different policy prescriptions; what federal, state, and local policies might increase school success for immigrant and English language students.

For many concerned about the well-being of children and families -- whether they're program managers, service providers, advocates, policymakers, or policy watchers -- tax policy is terra incognita, a distant, tangled domain best left unexplored. But tax policy has become a powerful partner to government spending over the past two decades. The recent economic stimulus package included many tax provisions focused on children and families and President Obama's proposed fiscal 2010 budget promises more.

The national housing crisis is exploding, with 2.2 million foreclosure actions started last year alone. Renters and homeowners have been forced to move, and the trauma is rippling across neighborhoods and anchor institutions of every size and description.

The executive branch and Congress are pouring billions of dollars into stemming the tide of foreclosures, evictions, and neighborhood distress. But so far, the crisis's impact on children and their families has been largely unexplored. And how will the new policy efforts play out on the ground?

From high-tech medical information systems to low-tech road building, the House version of the economic stimulus package covers the panoply of public policies and government programs. Children are in there, too. Some elements address them specifically, such as increases in education, Head Start, child care subsidies, and the child tax credit. These are buttressed by provisions to support their families' income, work opportunities, and health care and to bail out state budgets to avoid program cuts. The Senate bill is expected to include less aid for states, schools, and other programs.