Thursday's Child

Many children and youth - abroad and here, with their families or unaccompanied - flee their toxic surroundings, hoping to find new homes elsewhere and create new lives. With a panel of experts whose knowledge spans the globe, this forum will plumb the experiences of vulnerable youth who are displaced or on the move and examine ways to protect them, sparking an overdue exchange on policy lessons from America and abroad.

A unique panel of experts -- with experience spanning federal, state, and local governments, public communications, performance measurement, and neighborhood data analysis -- will bring much-needed light to the challenges of improving children's programs and boosting public confidence that these programs are working, needed by families, and worth funding.

While most public resources for kids and families come from state and local coffers, Uncle Sam remains a prime player. With one eye on current challenges and the other on what might be over the horizon, our panel of experts will assess the condition of state budgets and the portions for children and families; share first-hand experiences of how governors and budget officers choose priorities; discuss how states can align priorities, expenditures, and revenues; weigh the federal government's contributions to solving or aggravating state woes; and consider how lawmakers should think about budgetary trade-offs.

Election Day 2010 brought major changes to state capitals: 28 new governors, an estimated 25 percent turnover in legislative seats, and shifts in party control in 17 governors' mansions and 22 legislative chambers. As the new governors take office and appoint their cabinets and senior advisers, they face tough choices about priorities for funding, staffing, and attention. While most post-election commentary explores federal changes, when it comes to funding and delivering children's services, the lion's share of public resources are state and local. Mix in the budgetary blues besetting most states and the effects of a still-sluggish economy on families, and 2011 will be a challenging and unpredictable year for state policymakers and children.

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.

How will children fare in 2009 as the debate proceeds in Washington and state capitals? Join us as experts explore the process and politics of children's health policy, the traps that loom when integrating children into large-scale health reform, and more.

What are the dynamics of a presidential transition? How will changes at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue affect the executive and legislative branches? What will it take for children's issues to become a higher priority? What is similar this year to the past and what's new? And what will the answers to these questions mean for those who advocate for children and families?

anelists will discuss the effects teen childbearing has on the life trajectories of the mother and child, the costs to government agencies aiding teens' children, and the increased risks these children face, including maltreatment, being placed into foster care, and incarceration. Private and public programs that reduce teen pregnancy, help teen mothers avoid bearing a second child, and change teen behavior will be explored.

Panelists analyzed the complexities of enacting effective school-readiness policies and programs. Their observations addressed what’s behind the latest interest in such initiatives, the social and political environments needed for successful early learning centers and home visitation efforts, the lessons states can draw from Illinois’ recent experience; and the importance of integrating home-based and learning-center programs, and providing consistent training and supervision for providers.

As voters weigh candidates' positions on domestic issues, differing views about the government's role in helping children and families will come into play. What do members of the public believe about children and families? How do their beliefs overlap or conflict with the research and policy evidence and the demographic and economic trends that shape family life?

Building on our March forum, which analyzed how tax policy affects low-income working families, in April we turn to two supports designed to help parents stay in the workforce: child care subsidies and paid family leave.

The child tax credit (CTC) and the earned income tax credit (EITC) are designed to help working families with children. Yet these major initiatives leave out or provide limited assistance to some very low income families. Panelists discussed why tax programs for low-income families have expanded in recent years, while subsidy programs have remained relatively constant. They also analyzed problems that arise due to different treatment of families by CTC and EITC and the outlook and options for refining these programs that aim to support working families.

Current estimates indicate that on any given day, more than 150,000 children have a mother in prison, yet far too little is known about these children and their needs and experiences. What are their home environments like before, during, and after incarceration? What emotional and behavioral challenges do these children face? What can charitable organizations, service providers, and policymakers do to address those challenges? With these questions in mind, this panel sought to cast a bright light on this often invisible population of children.

Despite changes to social welfare policy over the last decade, a Chapin Hall study shows that African-American infants are still nearly three times more likely than white infants to be placed in foster care. Panelists considered how child welfare system administrators are leading initiatives to reverse the tide of racial disparity.

Despite changes to social welfare policy over the last decade, a Chapin Hall study shows that African-American infants are still nearly three times more likely than white infants to be placed in foster care. Panelists considered how child welfare system administrators are leading initiatives to reverse the tide of racial disparity.

Most publicly funded adolescent substance abuse treatment is provided and managed by the juvenile justice system, and juvenile courts and allied agencies are often the first responders to teen drug problems. But is this the right approach?

Who is responsible for protecting children affected by workplace raids, and what policies and procedures could alleviate the negative consequences on young people? Panelists at this event discussed these topics and others.

What makes an effective school in a high-poverty neighborhood? How do community factors, social service systems, and school leaders affect school performance? Beatriz Chu Clewell of the Urban Institute, Cheryl Smithgall of Chapin Hall Center for Children, Bryan Samuels of Chicago Public Schools, and Cynthia Brunswick of the Chicago New Teacher Center discuss. Elizabeth Brackett from The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer moderates.

Panelists discussed academic achievement gaps and segregation, poverty and the accumulation of risk factors, and programs designed to alleviate these conditions. Listen to the podcast.

SCHIP is up for congressional reauthorization this year, and contentious issues such as expanded eligibility will surely factor in that debate. Panelists discussed one potential sticking point: whether SCHIP should be used to cover parents of low-income children. Listen to the podcast.

Panelists reviewed federal spending trends in programs devoted to children, analyzed how those programs have fared against other national priorities, and looked at what the future holds for state and federal funding of children's programs. Listen to the podcast.

Panelists analyzed the efficacy of federal policies to reduce youth homelessness, focusing on two groups: youth who age out of the child welfare system and those who never qualify for its supports. Listen to the podcast.

Child care subsidies were an essential element of welfare reform and have helped many parents re-enter the workforce. But programs often don't allow for the many challenges these families regularly confront. Panelists discussed strategies to reform the child care subsidy system to better accommodate the realities faced by low-income working families. Listen to the podcast.

Although voting by young people and involvement in their communities have both shown signs of increasing in recent years, on many traditional measures older teenagers and young adults appear disconnected from civic life. Judy Woodruff, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; Cliff Zukin, Rutgers University; Maria de los Angeles Torres, University of Illinois at Chicago; and Christopher Lewis, Generation Engage discussed new insights on the factors that energize young people. Listen to the podcast

Laura Sullivan, NPR (moderator); Jeffrey Butts, Chapin Hall; Ronald Mincy, Columbia University; Caterina Roman, Urban Institute; Gerald Wilson, Metropolitan Police - Washington, D.C. examine recent trends in youth crime and consider policy options for responding to crime and violence. An upcoming report from Chapin Hall analyzing juvenile arrests over the past three decades provides the backdrop. Download this podcast

[Thursday's Child Podcast] Child protection agencies provide a safety net for abused and neglected children and those at risk of maltreatment. Panelists examined strategies to transform the child welfare system into well-honed operation that keeps children safe and actively advances their well-being.