A Service of the
Children's Bureau/
ACF/DHHS
Well-Being

Resources

  • Trends in the Well-Being of America's Children & Youth
    This is an annual report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on trends in the well-being of our nation's children and youth. The report presents the most recent and reliable estimates on more than 80 indicators of well-being. It is intended to provide the policy community, the media, and all interested citizens with an accessible overview of data describing the condition of children in the United States.

  • The Well-Being of Children Involved with the Child Welfare System: A National Overview
    This research brief from the Urban Institute is part of the series New Federalism: National Survey of America's Families. The project analyzes changes in income support, social services, and health programs. In collaboration with Child Trends, the project studies child and family well-being.

  • Children in Foster Homes: How Are They Faring?
    In this research brief, Child Trends found that generally children in foster homes are in poorer health than other children, they have more developmental and behavioral problems, and many are poorly engaged in school. But, on the positive side, nearly all foster children have health insurance, many have strong relationships with at least one adult, and more than half attend religious services regularly. The brief describes the well-being of children living in foster homes. It also provides a set of potential policy suggestions that include more support and training for foster parents and better service integration for parents and children.

  • Income and Child Well-being: A New Perspective on the Poverty Debate
    This report from the Canadian Council on Social Development documents the relationship between family income levels and 27 factors that are critical to healthy child development, including behaviour, learning, health status, engagement in cultural, recreational and social activities, and specific living conditions within the family and the community. The report also touches on the effects of these 27 factors on the child development process.

  • Poverty, Family Structure, and Child Well-Being: Indicators From the SIPP
    The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) provides a large, nationally representative sample that allows linking income recipiency, labor force participation, and participation in government assistance programs with indicators of child well-being. This research assesses data from the SIPP, collected in the fall of 1994.

  • Strategic Approaches to Improving the Well-Being of Children in Foster Care
    Children in foster care are at increased risk for poor outcomes and need high quality programs to ensure their physical and emotional well-being. A recent issue brief from Voices for America's Children highlights these critical needs and provides information about some promising approaches in States and communities, including programs aimed at: enhancing well-being while in care, helping children recuperate, and preparing children for a permanent home.

  • How Does Family Well-Being Vary Across Different Types of Neighborhoods?
    This paper from the Urban Institute uses the latest data from the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to explore variations across types of neighborhood environments in the well-being of families and children. Its goal is to take advantage of the richness of NSAF's data on family work effort, economic security, access to services and supports, and child well-being to shed new light on the relevance and role of neighborhood environment.

  • Community-Monitoring Systems: Tracking and Improving the Well-Being of America's Children and Adolescents
    An increasing number of communities are establishing community-monitoring systems (CMSs) to monitor the well-being of children and adolescents and the factors that influence their development. This monograph from the Society for Prevention Research places CMSs within the framework of public health efforts to improve the well-being of populations and describes seven key features of CMSs and their value in supporting successful development of children and adolescents. Examples describe functioning CMSs in the context of state and national developments in monitoring young people's well-being. Finally, the monograph presents key strategies to advance widespread and effective implementation of CMSs.

  • Children in Vulnerable Families: Facts and Figures
    This fact sheet from the Urban Institute looks at trends in some of the most significant risks facing families today: child maltreatment, domestic violence, children's disabilities, substance abuse, and parental mental illness.

  • Kids in the City: Indicators of Child Well-Being in Large Cities from the 2004 American Community Survey
    This report from the Brookings Institution investigates levels of child poverty in the 50 largest cities in the United States, and the factors underlying those rates. Their goal is to document the variation in child poverty rates in different cities and the contextual factors that are associated with outcomes for children and families in different parts of the country.

Resources from the States

  • New Mexico:
    • Best Practices - Well-Being Checklists
      This bulletin outlines best practices and describes the roles of caseworkers, judges, attorneys, court staff, and CASA volunteers.

    • Ensuring Well-Being
      A resource for judges, attorneys, social workers, service providers, child advocates, and others who work with children and families.

  • New York State Kids' Well-Being Indicator Clearinghouse
    This website, developed by the New York State Council on Children and Families with funding from the NYS Office for Technology, offers human services providers, child advocates, researchers and others a way to quickly and conveniently access and sort data tailored to accommodate their needs. It is a wonderful example of using the Internet to provide access to data related to children's health, education, and well-being.

Teleconferences

Websites

  • National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being
    The NSCAW will make available for the first time nationally representative longitudinal data drawn from first-hand reports from children, parents, and other caregivers, as well as reports from caseworkers, teachers, and data from administrative records. This will be the first national study that examines child and family well-being outcomes in detail and seeks to relate those outcomes to their experience with the child welfare system and to family characteristics, community environment, and other factors. The study will describe the child welfare system and the experiences of children and families who come in contact with the system. It will increase the knowledge needed to support service, program, and policy planning.

  • America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being
    The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics has published this report since 1997. It alternates full reports, which include detailed information on a set of key indicators of child well-being, with a new condensed that highlights selected indicators.

  • Kids Count
    This project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation is a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the U.S. By providing policymakers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, KIDS COUNT seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children.

  • Child Trends
    Child Trends was established to measure and monitor the well-being of children. Child Trends monitors well-being across an array of outcome domains, including physical health and safety; educational achievement and cognitive attainment; and social and emotional development.

  • Child Trends DataBank
    This resource offers the latest national trends and research on over 90 key indicators of child and youth well-being, with new indicators added each month.

  • Center for Research on Child Wellbeing
    CRCW conducts research on children's health, education, income, and family structure. The website includes a section on the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The study, also called "The Survey of New Parents," follows a birth cohort of (mostly) unwed parents and their children over a five-year period. It is designed to provide new information on the capabilities and relationships of unwed parents, as well as the effects of policies on family formation and child wellbeing.

  • Foundation for Child Development
    The Foundation for Child Development (FCD) is a national, private philanthropy dedicated to the principle that all families should have the social and material resources to raise their children to be healthy, educated and productive members of their communities. FCD is currently focused on four main program initiatives — Mapping the PK-3 Continuum (MAP), New American Children, the FCD Index of Child Well-Being and the Young Scholars Program.

  • ACE - Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
    ACE is one of the largest investigations ever conducted on the links between childhood maltreatment and later-life health and well-being. As a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente's Health Appraisal Clinic in San Diego, Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) members undergoing a comprehensive physical examination provided detailed information about their childhood experience of abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction. Over 17,000 members chose to participate. To date, over 30 scientific articles have been published and over 100 conference and workshop presentations have been made.

    The ACE Study findings suggest that these experiences are major risk factors for the leading causes of illness and death as well as poor quality of life in the United States. Progress in preventing and recovering from the nation's worst health and social problems is likely to benefit from the understanding that many of these problems arise as a consequence of adverse childhood experiences.

    • Centers for Disease Control
      This CDC website provides detailed information about the study and publications resulting from it.

    • ACE Study
      This unofficial website provides information about the ACE Study and the ACE Reporter, a publication written for lay people who do not have easy access to scientific, peer-reviewed medical articles.

  • Indicators of Child Well-Being
    A comprehensive listing of resources of child well-being statistical indicators used to assess health status, cognitive functioning, and social and emotional status, etc., from the Finance Project. Electronic resources including publications are provided. Some state initiatives are listed and described.





Last updated 05/05/08
about us | training and technical assistance | information services
newsletters | links | statistics | contact-us | home