Skip to main content

Research Archive

Welcome to Our Research Archive

Search and filter by content type, issue area, author, and keyword

August 8, 2025

A win for Wisconsin families: Childcare in the 2025-2027 biennial state budget

Wisconsin’s 2025-2027 biennial budget includes several provisions aimed at improving the affordability of childcare in the Badger state, ending the misguided effort to directly support private childcare providers’ operating expenses with taxpayer dollars — and instead focusing on reducing costs for families through regulatory reform and targeted assistance. It’s a win for Wisconsin families. The…

June 20, 2025

What Kids Need—and Adults Need to Know—to Combat the Youth Mental Health Crisis

Starting this fall students in New York will join those in other states like California in not being able to access cellphones during the day. These bans are the culmination of years of education and activism by parents, teachers and researchers concerned about the effect of technology not only on academic performance but also on…

June 16, 2025

Better Boys: The Difference Good Dads Make

The girls cleaned up at my (Brad’s) daughter’s middle school graduation in Virginia this month. Three out of four of the school’s top awards went to girls. A majority of the “President’s Academic Excellence Awards,” an award given to students who maintained an “A” average each semester throughout their middle school career, went to girls. This is par for the course….

April 3, 2025

The dangerous myth that poverty is the cause of child abuse

Why does child abuse happen? A new public service announcement says most people think it’s a “bad parent problem,” but the ad suggests “the root causes may be different than you think.” This message from Prevent Child Abuse America goes on to explain that child abuse is the result of families’ lack of financial resources — a…

April 1, 2025

Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s Dangerous Radicalism on Child Welfare

Socialist state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani has made a splash in the race for New York City mayor. A relentless social media campaign has helped him raise big dollars, despite his long-shot odds against incumbent mayor Eric Adams and former governor Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani has also adopted a platform of terrible ideas. His campaign materials portray him as a Robin…

April 1, 2025

Did Maltreatment Fatalities in Texas Really Decline?

A drop in the number of children entering foster care and fatalities due to abuse in Texas is, on its face, welcome news, and some stakeholders in the well-being of children are heartened. “There have been more net positives than any negatives that show up,” Brandon Logan, executive director of the Texas nonprofit One Accord…

March 31, 2025

Putting Children First: Child Welfare Priorities for the New Administration

Event Summary On March 31, AEI hosted a discussion on child welfare priorities, moderated by AEI’s Naomi Schaefer Riley. Experts Jedd Medefind of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, Rachel N. Morrison of the Ethics & Public Policy Center, Darcy Olsen of the Center for the Rights of Abused Children, and Tom Rawlings of Child Welfare…

February 22, 2025

Why Long Island Is Hoping Former Cops Will Become Child Protective Services Workers

“It’s incumbent upon us to make sure these children are safe,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said at a press conference recently. “That’s job No. 1.” Blakeman launched a program in 2023 to hire more workers for child protective services in order to reduce caseloads at the Department of Social Services. But Blakeman’s January decision to bring on former…

January 23, 2025

The Effects of Child Neglect Can Be As Harmful As Child Abuse

When Rob Henderson was growing up, he scored only 86 out of a possible 140 points on a verbal IQ test. His teachers thought he might have some kind of learning disability. But Henderson, who went on to graduate from Yale and Oxford, has a different theory. In a recent tweet, he noted that during…

January 8, 2025

Child Abuse Is Child Abuse, Regardless of the Circumstances

Two months ago, Wendell James Snell, age 42, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for the sexual abuse of three children under the age of 12 on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation between 2011 and 2014. “The depravity of Snell’s actions is reflected in today’s sentencing,” said Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr….