The Center’s core mission is driven by the belief that a remarkable explosion of new knowledge about the developing brain and the human genome, linked to advances in the behavioral and social sciences, offers current policymakers and civic leaders exceptional opportunities that did not exist a decade ago. As important and dramatic as these breakthroughs are likely to be for the diagnosis and treatment of disease, we believe there is an equally exciting opportunity to capitalize on their potential capacity to inform more effective responses to a much broader range of societal concerns, including education reform, workforce development, crime prevention, and reducing the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Within this context, the Center is committed to launching a new, science-driven era in policy and practice to promote the healthy development of all children, particularly those whose life prospects are compromised by significant adversity.
State Policy Partnership
The State Policy Partnership is the Center’s formal collaboration with the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the National Conference of State Legislatures. The partnership provides strategic access to state-level leadership across the country through two highly respected, non-partisan organizations. More >>
Child Mental Health Network
The goals of this initiative are to generate, integrate, communicate, and apply the science of children’s mental health to inform policy and practice. Specific components of the project include: conducting research focused on bridging the gap between the science and practice of mental health care for children and adolescents; developing strategies to generate greater public will and share science more effectively in the policy and practice arenas; and informing an effective policy agenda through strategically targeted demonstration projects. More >>
Five Numbers to Remember About Early Childhood Development
A new interactive Web feature provides some plain-language shorthand to understanding early childhood development by offering five numbers to remember about the development of young children. Learn how the numbers illustrate such concepts as the importance of early childhood to the learning, behavior, and health of later life and why getting things right the first time is easier and more effective than trying to fix them later.
View interactive feature >>
Reports & Working Papers
Briefs
Communicating Mental Health
As part of its larger research agenda with the Center, the FrameWorks Institute is conducting a multi-year study of public perceptions in the United States about child and family mental health. FrameWorks' investigation compares scientific discourse with public perceptions, using strategic frame analysis to close the gap between the way experts in the field write, explain, and talk about child mental health and how the public thinks about this complex issue.
This research report includes a review of the scientific literature on child mental health, as well as a series of interviews that FrameWorks conducted with experts in the field, including psychologists, psychiatrists, child health researchers, neuroscientists, epidemiologists, sociologists, and health care policy researchers. FrameWorks’ research aims to find new ways to explain the science and policy implications of child and family mental health for both policymakers and the general public. This report’s findings emphasize the importance of early intervention for children who experience symptoms of mental distress to help them avoid long-term adverse outcomes.
Translating Science
The Council, and now the Forum and the Center, have participated in a six-year partnership with the FrameWorks Institute to engage a multidisciplinary group of experts in an ongoing process designed to explain the science of early childhood development, its underlying neurobiology, and the research base for effective programs to key policymaking audiences in the United States. More >>
State Profiles: Applying Science to Policy
Read about two concrete examples of success in applying the science of early childhood to policy and practice at the state level in Washington and Nebraska. More >>
