Children, Youth, and Families

CDM researchers and their partners are beginning work on the recently funded Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC), a cross-national research study conducted in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Health Resources and Services Administration, the HBSC aims to increase understanding of young people's health. The findings from the HBSC surveys are used to inform and influence health promotion and health education policy and practice at national and international levels. HBSC was initiated in 1982 by researchers from three countries and shortly afterwards the project was adopted by the World Health Organization as a WHO collaborative study. There are now 39 participating countries and regions.

In recent years, CDM has participated in several NIH experimental studies and clinical trials focused on understanding and preventing the deterioration in glycemic control, treatment adherence, family relationships, and quality of life that often occur in families during the transition to adolescence of children with type 1 diabetes.

Challenges such as living in poverty or living with chronic illness test the strength of parents and children every day. Understanding the challenges that families face reveals volumes about the unique strengths these families possess, and informs programs that support these families about the best approaches to take. CDM has a long history of working to improve programs that support children and families who are at risk for problems related to these challenges. Through our research efforts, we have learned important information about these families and how the parents are involved with their children, as well as strategies that may help improve children’s academic performance.

CDM has been continuously involved for more than a decade in several national studies of the Head Start program. The goal of this work has always been to collect data that assist Head Start in its efforts to improve services to the low-income families it serves. The following studies have been used to improve Head Start health services, Head Start family services, and Head Start outreach and recruitment efforts.

Head Start FACES (Family and Child Experiences Surveys) Technical Report I.
Provides descriptions of the characteristics and experiences of children and families served by Head Start grantees, information about individual programs and their staff, and information on the communities in which Head Start provides services. Prepared for the Administration for Children and Families by CDM in 2002.
Reaching Out to Families: Head Start Recruitment and Enrollment Practices.
Describes the results of a project that examined the Head Start recruitment and enrollment efforts from a variety of perspectives. Prepared for the Administration for Children and Families by CDM in 2001.
Descriptive Study of Head Start Health Services.
Provides a "national snapshot" of how local Head Start programs meet the medical, dental, nutrition, and mental health needs of the children and families they serve. Prepared for the Administration for Children and Families by CDM in 1996.

CDM has supported a wide range of research and evaluation efforts in education. We have supported an evaluation of new curricula for Even Start projects and are evaluating a curriculum enhancement in Head Start programs. CDM also helped evaluate the impact of the USDA School Breakfast Program in elementary and middle schools as well as the Department of Education’s Smaller Learning Communities program in high schools. Many of these studies are in response to Congress’ questions about the impact of federally funded programs on school performance.

CDM also assisted the central and regional offices of the Administration for Children and Families Children's Bureau as well as the States and Tribes in the implementation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act passed in November 1997. CDM provided substantive technical programmatic assistance concerning the various issues covered under the Act, including promoting the safe and stable families provisions, court improvement, concurrent permanency planning, independent living, reasonable efforts prior to termination of parental rights, adoption (and adoption of children with special needs), and best social work practices.