Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics

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Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family
Statistics

• Martha Moorehouse
• Director, Children and Youth Policy
• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
  and Evaluation
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• June 2007

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Forum's mission

• To foster coordination, cooperation, and
  collaboration among Federal agencies and partners
  in the private sector.
• To enhance and improve collection, reporting, and
  dissemination of Federal data on children and
  families.

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The Forums history

• Founded in 1994 with six Federal member agencies
  and OMB.
• Formally established in April 1997 through
  Executive Order 13045.
• Has grown to 22 Federal member agencies two were
  added in 2006.
• Virtual organization one dedicated staff.

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Forum members

• Nine Departments
• Agriculture
• Commerce
• Defense
• Education
• Health and Human Services
• Housing and Urban Development
• Justice
• Labor
• Transportation
• Three agencies
• Environmental Protection Agency
• National Science Foundation
• Office of Management and Budget

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Committees of the Forum

• Forum members
• Planning committee
• Reporting committee

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Main activities of the Forum

• Publish Americas Children Key National
  Indicators of Well-Being.
• Sponsor workshops and meetings participate in
  conferences and policy seminars.
• Consult with Federal agencies and other partners
  about ways to improve data and close data gaps.

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The Americas Children Report series

• Highlights recent changes and long-term trends.
• Draws attention to data gaps.
• Encourages dialogue between data providers and
  policy communities.

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Americas Children 2006

• 9 measures of Population and Family
  Characteristics
• 26 indicators across 4 domains
• Economic Security
• Health
• Behavior and Social Environment
• Education

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Criteria for indicators

• Easy to understand by broad audiences
• Objectively based on substantial research
  connecting them to child well-being
• Balanced, so that no single area of childrens
  lives dominates the report
• Measured regularly, so that they can be updated
  and show trends over time and
• Representative of large segments of the
  population, rather than one particular group.

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Americas Children 2007 - 10th Anniversary Edition

• Forum created an Executive Planning Group to
  conduct a comprehensive review of the Report.
• Conceptual frameworks were reviewed.
• Domains should remain broad to include
• Influences
• Effects, and
• Outcomes
• Indicators

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Americas Children 2007

• Population and Family Characteristics renamed
  as Family and Social Environment
• 4 Domains Kept
• Economic Security
• Health
• Behavior and Social Environment
• Education
• 2 Domains Added
• Physical Environment and Safety
• Health Care

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Indicators were reviewed based on criteria

• Data sources
• Data quality
• Measured regularly
• Objectively based
• Representative of large segments of the
  population
• Easy to understand
• Key

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Additions (9)

• Child maltreatment
• Sexual activity
• Lead in the blood of children
• Drinking water quality
• Oral health Dental visits and dental caries
• Asthma
• College enrollment rates of high school
  completers
• Child injury and mortality
• Adolescent injury and mortality

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Modifications

• Food security and diet quality
• Childhood immunization

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Deletions generally reflected changes in data
collections

• Child care
• Higher education
• General health status

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Website

• ChildStats.gov

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Additional Areas of Interest

• Forum
• -Creation of a Research Committee
• -Adding to the web site to provide information on
  other reports childrens statistics by federal
  agency statistical reports on the web site
• ASPE
• -State and local indicators