Volume 25, Issue 1 (2013)

This issue of the journal publishes the proceedings of the two “Youth at Risk” seminars the Family Impact Institute conducted at the Massachusetts State House in April 2012 and March 2013, for state policy makers, including legislators, legislative aides, the governor’s staff, and agency representatives. What makes these seminars unique is that they focus researchers’ attention on what policy makers want and not on what researchers think they should want.

Among the hardest hit by the recession were the poor, whose numbers swelled when tens of thousands of the new jobless and their families joined them. Many of these families, who were previously among the middle class, had lost their homes. And among these families, children and young people were most vulnerable to the deleterious impact of economic free fall, the most difficult to protect, and, for those who were employable, the hardest to find economic opportunities for. The articles in this series address the overall well-being of youth, youth unemployment, online sexual predators, transracial adoption of children in foster care, food insecurity among children, and homeless children and their families. At first glance, these subjects may not all seem to be related, but the authors skillfully weave the findings of their research in these areas to pinpoint the interrelationships.