STRATEGIES  FOR CHILDREN

Any effective strategy for children must recognize and address the challenges confronting their parents, along with the broader array of community factors and service systems that affect children directly and their parents’ ability to support them. And because children’s health and development are shaped by many factors, outcomes in one area (such as nutrition or school readiness) are affected by actions in other areas (such as work supports or community violence prevention). Solutions require looking beyond narrow definitions of children’s issues and cutting through conventional policy boundaries to find the most cost-effective ways to deploy public resources as part of a coordinated strategy.