The National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives (NPSC) and the FRONTIER program at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, will co-host a briefing with internationally recognized experts on child neurobiology to present research showing that family support policies have a positive impact on brain development in infancy and childhood. Such policies also reduce child maltreatment, one of the more extreme consequences of poverty, which is enormously costly in terms of government services expenditures, productivity losses, and increased child mortality, not to mention the human suffering. Providing modest financial support to parents of young children can yield high returns on the long-term health of our children and promote their academic, personal, and societal success.
New studies provide solid evidence that financial assistance to families positively affected children and families across the entire country, in both rural and urban settings, by giving parents the autonomy to use funds on what their families need the most, whether it is rent, healthier food choices, better childcare, or an enriched home environment. Increasing access to these resources in very low income households appears to improve child development by directly impacting brain growth and functioning.
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