A new paper from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University outlines ways that policymakers and others can use the science of child development to guide choices affecting children and families.
Science to Policy and Practice: Three Principles to Improve Outcomes for Children and Families was published on the Center’s website in October 2017. It covers the science behind three principles—supporting responsive relationships, strengthening core life skills, and reducing sources of stress—presents examples of how they might be applied, and explores the crucial ways in which they are interconnected.
The Center’s researchers write, “Understanding how the experiences children have starting at birth, even prenatally, affect lifelong outcomes—combined with new knowledge about the core capabilities adults need to thrive as parents and in the workplace—provides a strong foundation upon which policymakers and civic leaders can design a shared and more effective agenda.”