Parent training services are becoming an increasingly important focus in child welfare policy because they have the potential to reduce child maltreatment and improve children's development and well-being. Research shows that the nation's child protection programs do not often use parent training programs and even those that do tend to use programs that have little or no validation of their effectiveness.

The Brookings Institution hosted researchers, administrators, and child and parent advocates to discuss parent training programs, their implementation, and their effects on children who come to the attention of the child protection system. This event featured the launch of Child Protection: Using Research to Improve Policy and Practice, which reported the results of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Chapin Hall Research Fellow and book co-editor Fred Wulczyn moderated one panel at the event.