BOX 1-2Statement of Task

An ad hoc committee will conduct a study that will inform a national framework for strengthening the capacity of parents^* of young children birth to age 8. The committee will examine the research to identify a core set of parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) tied to positive parent-child interactions and child outcomes, as well as evidence-based strategies that support these KAPs universally and across a variety of specific populations. These KAPs and strategies will be brought together to inform a set of concrete policy recommendations, across the private and public sectors within the health, human services, and education systems. Recommendations will be tied to promoting the wide-scale adoption of the effective strategies and the enabling of the identified KAPs. The report will also identify the most pressing research gaps and recommend three to five key priorities for future research endeavors in the field. This work will primarily inform policy makers, a wide array of child and family practitioners, private industry, and researchers. The resulting report should serve as a “roadmap” for the future of parenting and family support policies, practices, and research in this country.

Specific populations of interest include fathers, immigrant families, parents with substance abuse and/or mental health issues, low-income families, single-mother headed households, and parents of children with disabilities. Given the diversity of family characteristics in the United States, the committee will examine research across diverse populations of families and identify the unique strengths/assets of traditionally underrepresented groups in the literature, including Native Americans, African Americans, and Latinos.

Contextual areas of interest include resource poor neighborhoods, unsafe communities, rural communities, availability of quality health care and education systems and services (including early childhood education), and employment opportunities.

The committee will address the following questions:

1.

What are the core parenting KAPs, as identified in the literature, that support healthy child development, birth to age 8? Do core parenting KAPs differ by specific characteristics of children (e.g., age), parents, or contexts?

2.

What evidence-informed strategies to strengthen parenting capacity, including family engagement strategies, in various settings (e.g., homes, schools, health care centers, early childhood centers) have been shown to be effective with parents of young children prenatal to age 8? Are there key periods of intervention that are more effective in supporting parenting capacity—beginning in high school or even earlier?

3.

What types of strategies work at the universal/preventive, targeted, and intensive levels (e.g., media campaigns, information sharing, text reminders; social support groups, self-monitoring and tracking online; modeling and feedback coaching, intensive home visiting), and for which populations of parents and children? The committee will consider the appropriate balance between strategies tailored to unique parent and child needs and common strategies that can be effective and accepted with parents across groups.

4.

What are the most pronounced barriers, including lack of incentives, to strengthening parenting capacity and retention in effective programs and systems designed to improve developmental, health, and education outcomes for children birth to age 8? How can programs and systems be designed to remove these barriers?

5.

Are there evidence-based models of systems and programs that support parenting capacity and build upon existing assets of families, including underserved, low-income families of color?

6.

What are three to five research areas that warrant further investigation, in order to inform policy and practice?

Specific recommendations to strengthen parenting capacity should target federal, state, and local governments; the private sector (e.g., faith-based communities, philanthropy, business, employers, insurance companies); public education systems; and health and human service systems. The report will recommend policies to be implemented across all levels of the public sector within the health, human services, and education systems to support parents in their parenting role. For the private sector, the report may recommend specific actions they can take to enact, implement, or fund the outlined strategies or policies. In addition, the committee will make specific recommendations about how programs and policies can be paid for (e.g., insurance waivers, family co-pay subsidies, layering on other government programs, etc.).

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The term “parents” in this study includes the main caregivers of children in the home. In addition, this report will include a special emphasis on fathers.