Children, Families, and Government: Preparing for the Twenty-First Century provides a practical analysis of the relationship between child development research and the design and implementation of social policy concerning children and families. In so doing, the volume captures the excitement, tensions, and challenges that have emerged in the field of child development and social policy, and it examines recent changes in our national ethos toward children and families.

Part I offers an introduction to the volume. Part II describes influences on the policy process and highlights recent reforms in order to specify policy areas affecting children and families. Part III presents state-of-the-art research on problems faced by children and families, and the policy solutions that address these issues.

Children, Families, and Government is at once timely and enduring; perennially important issues like health care, welfare reform, and drug abuse are explored in a context that enables the reader to relate current events to the theories and foundations on which policies are based. The volume is essential reading for policymakers, social workers, educators, and researchers in developmental and clinical psychology, political science, law, and governmental studies.