About Child Trends

Since its founding in 1979, Child Trends has been committed to designing, conducting, interpreting, and communicating rigorous, high-quality data and research on children, youth, and families’ well-being. Our work explores how a child’s environment shapes their life and the drivers of variance in their outcomes across individual, socioeconomic, and other characteristics.

We work to ensure that all children thrive.

Child Trends promotes the well-being of all children and youth through applied research that informs public policies, builds the evidence base for what works, and mines data to identify young people who are overlooked or ill served by public systems. Our research is known for its rigor and objectivity, making Child Trends a uniquely powerful and respected voice for children and youth.

Our expertise spans multiple fields, including early childhood, child welfare, school climate, reproductive health, family formation, juvenile justice, trauma, and youth development.

Our deep knowledge of child and youth development shines through all our work. Child Trends’ multidisciplinary staff of more than 200 experts—with backgrounds in psychology, sociology, demography, data science, public health, and education (among other fields)—bring both passion and rigor to their work.

We employ established and innovative methodologies and data sources, and we value the lived experiences of the children, families, and communities we study. 

Our impact is wide-reaching:

• Our groundbreaking data analyses garner national attention and are used by both federal and local policymakers. 
• We provide critical technical assistance to state agencies. 
• We testify before Congress and state legislatures. 
• Our experts regularly inform the reporting of national, local, and trade media.  

If it affects children and youth, Child Trends is on it. 

Learn more about who we are: