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Child Well-Being as Human Capital
By Fred Wulczyn
2008

Summary: This paper explores how the general principles of child development intersect with the emerging interest in child well-being as an outcome for children who come in contact with the child welfare system. Findings point to important continuities that form around developmental periods. Data suggest that much of what happens to babies may happen because they are babies; similarly, much of what happens to teens may happen because they are teens. Although factors such as race/ethnicity and poverty are important modifiers of experience, a precise understanding of their impact on children has to be filtered through a developmental perspective. Developmental processes influence the risk of (and response to) maltreatment, placement into foster care, and permanency. Services, as a protective factor, have to be designed with this broader context in mind, to offset the risk factors and their relative effects on development, given the developmental stage.

Index Terms: At Risk Children, Child Development, Child Welfare, Comprehensive Services, Outcomes

Publisher: Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago

Publication Type: Reports (Descriptive)

Pages: 12 pages
Language: English

Availability
Chapin Hall Center for Children
at the University of Chicago
1313 East 60th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637
773-753-5900
FAX: 773-753-5940
http://www.chapinhall.org/

 
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