3-019 - Supporting Parents from Diverse Backgrounds: Lessons from the National Academies report on Families of Young Children

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

This roundtable will explore issues raised by a report recently issued by the National Academy of Medicine that notes the increasing diversity of families and its relevance for national efforts to support parents with young children. This report released in July 2016 is titled “Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children 0-8.” The panelists consist of developmental scientists who served as members of the committee that authored the report. The report provides important analyses of the extent to which current programs and policies reflect the increasing diversity of persons who serve as parents. The roundtable considers the implications of the report for developmentalists. Specific questions to be addressed include:
• What gaps does the report identify in research, policy and practice related to needs of diverse families?
• How can considerations of family, cultural and community contexts of parenting be integrated into and shape policy discussions and the design of family support programs?
• What are the unique needs of fathers and grandparents for support that are not currently recognized in policy and practice?
• What are the possible ways that the report will shape future policy discussions, funding and program development by the federal agencies and private foundations that commissioned the work of the committee?

Sub Unit

• Prevention and Interventions

Moderator

• Oscar Barbarin, University of Maryland

Panelists

• Vivian L. Gadsden, University of Pennsylvania

• Barbara Rogoff, University of California, Santa Cruz

• Natasha Cabrera, University of Maryland

• Morgan Ford, National Academies of Science