Depending on the kindness of strangers: Current national data initiatives and developmental research

This article provides a brief review of current large-scale, longitudinal d ata collection initiatives focusing on children. These studies will be avai lable for secondary data analyses in the twenty-first century. In addition to child outcome data, process-oriented information is being collected on c hild-parent interactions, quality of child care, elementary school teacher reports and classroom observations, accessibility and use of health, educat ional and social services, parental mental health, family violence, fatheri ng, parental residence patterns, income and income sources, child support, employment patterns, and community characteristics. Several of these studio s are randomized trials of the efficacy of early childhood intervention ser vices and housing mobility programs. The usefulness of these efforts for ex ploring policy-relevant issues (child support enforcement, work requirement s for welfare recipients, antipoverty strategies, housing subsidies and rel ocation, availability of child care, child-care subsidies) are discussed.