Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing
(Princeton University)
The Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing is located within the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. The Center takes a multidisciplinary approach and is concerned with a broad range of children's issues, including education, healthcare, income sufficiency and family/community support. Their long-term goal is to identify policies in each of these areas that are effective and politically feasible. To meet this goal, the Center supports basic research as well as evaluations of particular policies and programs.
Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy
(Yale University)
Established in 1977 at Yale University, the multi-disciplinary Bush Center conducts policy-related research affecting children and trains researchers in the process of policy decision-making with the aim of bringing current research knowledge about child development into the policy arena.
The Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child & Family Policy
(University of Southern Maine)
The mission of the Institute (at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine), is to improve the quality of human service systems in order to preserve and strengthen families and promote the well-being of family members; to foster team work, collaboration and personal and professional growth of staff; and to continuously improve our ability to meet the needs of those we serve while advancing academic and professional standards of excellence.
Center for Adolescent and Family Studies
formerly, Center for Adolescent Studies
(Indiana University)
The Center for Adolescent and Family Studies (CAFS) is a research center in the School of Education at Indiana University. Through community-based research projects and collaborations with other universities, CAFS identifies and disseminates information regarding the effective treatment of at-risk adolescents and their families. CAFS is a resource to practitioners, teachers, and families by providing information through this website, professional papers, presentations, and other print media.
Center for Child and Family Policy
(Duke University)
Located at Duke University, the mission of the Center for Child and Family Policy is to contribute to solutions to important problems affecting today’s children and families through an integrated system of scientific research, debate and dissemination, public service, and teaching. The Center emphasizes the bridge from basic research to policy and practice.
Center on Children, Families, and the Law
(University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
The Center on Children, Families, and the Law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was established in 1987 as a home for interdisciplinary research, teaching and public service on issues related to child and family policy and services. The mission of the Center on Children, Families, and the Law is to conduct research, analyze policy, and provide education and community service related to child and family policy and law. The purpose of the Center's activities is to enhance the well-being of children, youth, and families.
Center for Early Education and Development
(University of Minnesota)
Established in 1973 at the University of Minnesota (College of Education and Human Development), the Center provides information regarding young children (birth to age eight), including children with special needs, in the areas of education, child care, child development, and family education.
Center on Human Policy
(Syracuse University)
The Center on Human Policy (CHP) is a Syracuse University-based policy, research, and advocacy organization involved in the national movement to insure the rights of people with disabilities. The Center is involved with a broad range of local, statewide, national and international activities, including policy studies, research, information and referral, advocacy, training and consultation, and information dissemination.
Center for Social Services Research
(University of California, Berkeley)
At the School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley, the Center for Social Services Research conducts research, policy analysis, program planning and evaluation toward the improvement of the publicly supported social services. The Center is composed of six primary research groups, one of which is the Child Welfare Research Center.
Center on Urban Poverty & Social Change
(Case Western University)
The Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change, located in the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, was established in August 1988 to address the problems of persistent and concentrated urban poverty. The primary function of the Center is to produce comprehensive poverty-related information in local and regional contexts. The Center also offers an online database (Cleveland Area Network for Data and Organizing, i.e., CAN DO).
Chapin Hall Center for Children
(University of Chicago)
The Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago was established in 1985 as a research and development center dedicated to bringing sound information, rigorous analyses, innovative ideas, and an independent perspective to the ongoing public debate about the needs of children and the ways in which those needs can best be met. The Center focuses its work on all children, while devoting particular attention to children facing special risks or challenges, such as poverty, abuse and neglect, mental and physical illness. The contexts in which children are supported--primarily their families and communities--are of particular interest.
Children and Family Research Center
(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
The Children and Family Research Center was established in 1996 by a cooperative agreement between the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Chapaign School of Social Work as an independent research organization. They are dedicated to conducting and supporting research that contribute to keeping children safe, assuring permanent homes for children, and supporting child and family well-being. The Center's web site provides instant accessibility to research-based information that can be integrated into practice, training, programs, and policy.
Children, Youth, and Family Consortium
(University of Minnesota)
The Children, Youth, and Family Consortium was established in 1991 to bring together the varied competencies of the University of Minnesota and the vital resources of Minnesota's communities to enhance the ability of individuals and organizations to address critical health, education, and social policy concerns in ways that improve the well-being of Minnesota children, youth, and families.
Early Childhood Research Institute on Measuring Growth and Development
(University of Minnesota, Kansas, and Oregon)
The Early Childhood Research Institute on Measuring Growth and Development (ECRI-MGD), a collaborative effort by the Universities of Minnesota, Kansas, and Oregon, supports a comprehensive system for measuring the skills and needs of individual children with disabilities (birth to age eight) including growth and development indicators and solutions-oriented assessments.
Family Life Development Center
(Cornell University)
Cornell University's Family Life Development Center, an interdisciplinary unit of the College of Human Ecology, accomplishes its mission through research, training, outreach, and education. Established by New York State in 1974, its mission is to improve professional and public efforts to understand and deal with risk factors in the lives of children, youth, families, and communities that lead to family violence and neglect by focussing on strategies and programs to help vulnerable children and youth by strengthening families and communities.
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center (FPG) was founded in 1966 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The multidisciplinary Center is dedicated to improving the lives of young children and their families through research, teaching, and public service with focus on activities in child development and health, especially factors that may put children at risk for developmental problems.
The Guide to Careers in Child and Family Policy
(University of Illinois at Chicago & Northwestern University)
Operated and funded jointly by the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University, with additional funding provided by the Foundation for Child Development and The William T. Grant Foundation, this site is defined as an internet road map to career opportunities. It is divided into two major sections, one for information seekers and the other for information providers. Information is posted by organizations ranging from academic departments, to not-for-profits, to government agencies, to the private sector. The site can be used without cost by persons seeking career information and can be freely used by those wishing to provide information about their organization and its opportunities.
Institute for Children, Youth, and Families
(Michigan State University)
Michigan State University's Institute for Children, Youth, and Families is a university-wide, multidisciplinary unit. The Institute promotes university/community collaboration around issues concerning children, youth, and families and disseminates information on best practices for children, youth, and families.
The Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy
formerly, Family and Child Policy Center
(Brandeis University)
Founded in 1990, the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at Heller Graduate School Brandeis University, focusses on early childhood years and bridging the worlds of scholarship, advocacy, and policy through building creative, project-focused partnerships with public sector, private sector, and community-based groups. The Institute is interdisciplinary in its focus with representation from medicine, psychology, public health, social work, sociology, and social policy.
The Institute for Policy Research
formerly, the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research
(Northwestern University)
The Institute for Policy Research (IPR) is an interdisciplinary public policy research institute which was founded in 1968 at Northwestern University. The Institute's mission is to stimulate and support excellent social science research on significant public policy issues and to disseminate the findings widely -- to students, scholars, policymakers, and the public at large.
Joint Center for Poverty Research
(Northwestern University / University of Chicago)
The Northwestern University / University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research supports academic research that examines what it means to be poor and live in America. The Joint Center's mission is to advance understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and the effect of policies designed to reduce poverty.
Kempe Children's Center
(University of Colorado)
Founded in 1972, the mission of the Kempe Children's Center (University of Colorado Health Sciences Center) is "to end the cycle of child abuse and neglect by disseminating discoveries resulting from multidisciplinary research." In addition to programs providing prevention, evaluation and treatment services to children and their families where maltreatment might have occurred, the Center maintains strong training and research programs.
National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
(University of Southern Maine)
The National Child Welfare Resource Center, a part of the Institute for Child & Family Policy at the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine, strengthens and supports organizations committed to the welfare of children, youth and families through research, training, technical assistance and evaluation. The Center works to improve management and operations, bolster organizational capacity and promote service integration, resulting in improved outcomes for children and families.
National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center
formerly, National Early Childhood Technical Assistance System
(University of North Carolina)
NECTAC was established in 1987 under the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA). Coordinated by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NECTAC fulfills the need for focused, national technical assistance to states and others to improve services and results for young children with disabilities and their families, serving as a nexus of knowledge on national early childhood policies, research, and practices.
National Institute on Out-of-School Time
(Wellesley College)
The National Institute is located at the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women and is one of the Center's best-known projects. The mission of the National Institute is to improve the quantity and quality of school-age care programs nationally by concentrating in five primary areas: research; education and training; consultation; program and community development; and public awareness.
National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice
(University of Iowa)
The National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice, based out of the University of Iowa, provides technical assistance, staff training, research and evaluation, and information on family-based programs and issues to public and private human services agencies in states, counties, and communities across the United States.
The National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning
formerly, National Resource Center for Foster Care and Permanency Planning
(Hunter College of the City University of New York)
The National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning (located in Hunter College School of Social Work of the City University of New York) in collaboration with our partners at the Child Welfare League of America and the National Indian Child Welfare Association, is a training, technical assistance and information services organization dedicated to increasing the capacity of child welfare agencies to provide children with safe, permanent families in supportive communities. The Center is a service of the Children's Bureau - ACF/DHHS.
National Resource Center for Youth Services
(University of Oklahoma)
The mission of the University of Oklahoma's National Resource Center for Youth Services (NRCYS) is to enhance the quality of life of the nation's at-risk youth and their families by enhancing the quality of human services. The Center provides information, training, technical assistance, conferences, books, and curricula for human-services professionals.
National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health
(Georgetown University)
The National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health is part of the Georgetown University Child Development Center. Since 1984, NTAC has been serving as a national resource center for policy and technical assistance to improve service delivery and outcomes for children and adolescents with, or at risk of, serious emotional disturbance and their families.
Skillman Center for Children
(Wayne State University)
The mission of the Skillman Center for Children (Wayne State University, College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs) is to support the work of existing agencies, citizen and parent groups, organizations and governmental units concerned with the needs of urban children and youth. To implement this mission, the center identifies critical problems and issues each year and conducts a national and international search for models or policies that promise effective solutions.
Wheelock College Institute for Leadership and Career Initiatives
formerly, Center for Career Development in Early Care and Education
(Wheelock College)
The Center for Career Development in Early Care and Education at Wheelock College was founded in 1991 to improve the quality of early care and education for children by creating a viable career development system for early childhood practitioners; and promote the definition of early care and education both as a professional field and as a field of study. Addressing the need for change in both policy and practice, The Center's technical assistance, training delivery, research, and information dissemination activities are designed to help states, local communities, and higher education institutions bring about systemic change to replace the currently fragmented training system with one which meets the needs of families, children, and the field.
If you are aware of other child, youth, and family policy university-based research centers, please let us know: childpolicy@columbia.edu