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Active duty military personnel and National Guard and reservists experience multiple deployments as a result of the conflicts that comprise the War on Terror. A large body of research has accumulated on the behavioral health problems faced by military personnel as a result of these conflicts. After nearly a decade of war, a growing area of research shows the negative impact on children, youth and families of U.S. military personnel. Children of military families often experience multiple stressors before and during their parent's deployment and when they come home. Without appropriate mental health support systems, children of military personnel may be at a significant disadvantage compared with their peers in non-military families.

Active duty military personnel and National Guard and reservists experience multiple deployments as a result of the conflicts that comprise the War on Terror. A large body of research has accumulated on the behavioral health problems faced by military personnel as a result of these conflicts. After nearly a decade of war, a growing area of research shows the negative impact on children, youth and families of U.S. military personnel. Children of military families often experience multiple stressors before and during their parent's deployment and when they come home. Without appropriate mental health support systems, children of military personnel may be at a significant disadvantage compared with their peers in non-military families.

Consistent, responsive, and nurturing early relationships foster emotional well-being in young children, as well as create the foundation for the behavioral, social, and cognitive development essential for school readiness. Developmental research tells us that parents are one of the most important influences on children with high quality parenting essential for healthy child development. Thus, preventing behavior problems in young children requires family-oriented, evidence-informed strategies that address the needs of both parents and their children. This report explores the challenges and opportunities of improving mandated parent training for parents of young children in the child welfare system. Drawing on lessons from research and practice, it calls on states, courts and communities to use more intentional, cost effective, and strategic approaches to required parent training. The report is based on Improving Parenting Outcomes for Children in the Child Welfare System: an emerging issues roundtable that the National Center for Children in Poverty conducted in July 2007 in New York. The forum brought together leaders in child welfare, policymakers, philanthropists, researchers and those with practice expertise to explore the best means to ensure effective parenting training and to consider action steps to help this high risk population. (See Appendix I for a list of participants.) While parent education is only one component of a comprehensive service plan to help parents better parent, it is a point of potential leverage to improve the child welfare system by providing more effective prevention services, such as parenting education, and spending scarce resources more efficiently. This report explores the research, proposes criteria for effective programs, and discusses strategies that can be used at the local, state and national levels to change policy and practice.

Young children's health is essential to their overall development, well-being, and school readiness. Untreated health problems and a lack of preventive care contribute to higher rates of serious illness, absenteeism in preschool, physical and emotional distress, and even long-term disability. At a historic moment when the passage of federal health care reform promises significant improvements in health care access for many Americans, it is important to take stock of how well states are currently meeting the health needs of young children in low-income families. This brief presents information from NCCP's Improving the Odds for Young Children project about state policy choices in the following areas that affect the health and well-being of children, ages birth to 5: access to health care and continuity of care; maternal health care; and preventive screening and assessment. Relevant components of health care reform legislation are considered in a set of recommendations for meeting the short and long-term health care needs of young, low-income children.