Children do best when they grow up in their own families, and families thrive when they are connected to formal and informal supports and social networks. Some families also benefit from specific services that build strengths and abate risks to family stability. [i] Research shows that when families lack adequate income and assets, they face hardships including hunger, living in substandard housing, and untreated illness. These hardships are especially harmful for children, who are more likely to experience long lasting negative outcomes in the areas of health, social and emotional development, educational attainment, and employment. [ii]

What are the Key Elements to Achieving this Result?

When Protective Factors that serve as buffers against adversity are present and robust in a family, the likelihood of child maltreatment diminishes [iii] and families flourish. Children and their families need:

• Timely and equitable access to a continuum of supports and services. Families have unique needs, so the policy response to strengthening families must include a range of supports that are available before families are in crisis. The support continuum should include strategies that promote family strengths and address adverse circumstances that heighten the risks of child maltreatment. Economic hardship is one of the key factors thought to be associated with reports of child maltreatment, and with child neglect in particular. [v]

• The ability to cope with stress and recover from crises. Parental resilience is not just the capacity to rebound from sudden emergencies but also to adapt to ongoing challenges; it includes social connections and access to concrete supports in times of need.
• Stable housing in safe neighborhoods. Children who live in stable housing are more likely to be healthy, do better on reading and math tests and less likely to drop out of school than children who move regularly or live in substandard housing.[vi]
• Opportunities for education, employment and assets. Workers with the least education suffered the greatest job losses in the recent recession. Post-secondary education, effective job training and placement programs increase families’ economic security and keep people competitive even in a challenging job market. Increasing household financial resources and building household assets increases net worth which provides economic stability, financial security and a cushion to weather tough economic times.