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Overview
The best way to improve social conditions tomorrow may be to improve the circumstances and life prospects of low-income children today. Over the past decade, MDRC has increasingly focused on understanding how social policies and programs affect the well-being of children and their families. MDRC’s studies on children and families provide a new generation of reliable evidence for policymakers about how children are affected when governmental policies change families’ economic circumstances, family health and relationships, and children’s early educational experiences.
In the area of work, welfare, and child well-being, our studies investigate welfare and work strategies, such as time-limited welfare, work requirements, and earnings supplements. Because these policies can have important implications for children by changing families’ economic circumstances, MDRC examines the effects of these welfare reform approaches on both parents and children.
Our research aimed at strengthening family relationships and family health is designed to understand how children and their parents are affected by efforts to: (1) increase the emotional well-being of parents; (2) improve parenting skills; (3) help couples form strong, healthy marriages; and (4) increase the ability of noncustodial parents to pay child support and stay involved with their children.
Finally, MDRC’s child care and early education studies aim to deepen policymakers’ understanding of the effects of early care environments, both as a support for employment and as a context that directly affects children’s development.
Key Documents on Family Well-Being & Child Development
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