Experts from 23 Countries to Explore Multiple Ways to Promote
Children's Rights and Well-Being through Research

University of Chicago's Chapin Hall Center for Children Hosts Inaugural Conference
of International Society for Child Indicators

Chicago, IL, June 19, 2007 - Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, a leading policy research center, will host a first-of-its-kind conference at which some of the world's most influential researchers will share a wealth of information and findings relating to the welfare of children and youth.

The Inaugural Conference of the International Society for Child Indicators (ISCI), set for June 26-28 at Chicago's Allerton Hotel, 701 North Michigan Avenue, will bring together nearly 200 attendees from 23 countries across five continents. By creating a forum in which researchers can share and evaluate critical data relating to children's physical, emotional and economic well-being, the conference is expected to develop new networks and research teams that can help governmental and other agencies implement sound policy.

"Ensuring the welfare of children and youth has never been a higher priority for policymakers, but too often they lack the objective research needed to formulate legislation," said Robert Goerge, Research Fellow at Chapin Hall and co-chair of ISCI. "Our goal with this conference is to bring together leading child-welfare researchers from across the globe to share information and build on each other's knowledge, research programs and methods."

ISCI was formed in 2006 by Goerge and co-chair Asher Ben-Arieh of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem to efficiently disseminate the research methods pioneered by Chapin Hall that measure and monitor the state of child well-being. The establishment of ISCI is the outgrowth of Chapin Hall's 10-year initiative to facilitate information exchange and cooperative work among child well-being researchers internationally. Today ISCI members include academicians, government officials, policymakers, child-welfare advocates, philanthropic organizations, practitioners and journalists from more than 30 countries around the world.

Nearly 90 papers and workshops will be presented, covering the measurement and monitoring of such child well-being indicators as safety, physical and emotional health, effects of poverty, civic-life skills, spirituality, and children's perceptions of their own well-being. Policy implications of research in these areas will also be explored.

The conference schedule and presentation abstracts are available at the ISCI website at www.childindicators.org.

A major outcome of the conference will be the launch of a new international peer-reviewed periodical, Child Indicators Journal, published by Springer. The first volumes will include articles based on conference presentations and will be available in spring 2008. The conference is also expected to stimulate new research agendas, web postings, and the formation of working groups and regional meetings that analyze the status of children's rights and well-being across diverse cultures.

The inaugural ISCI conference is sponsored Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Child Watch International, the Foundation for Child Development, the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life at Clemson University, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Springer Publishers.

To arrange an interview with Dr. Goerge or Dr. Ben-Arieh, contact Carolyn Saper, Communications Director at Chapin Hall, at csaper@chapinhall.org or 773-256-5212. Their work can be found on the Chapin Hall website at www.chapinhall.org.

Chapin Hall Center for Children is a nonpartisan policy research center dedicated to bringing rigorous research and innovative ideas to policymakers, service providers, and funders working to improve the well-being of children. Located at the University of Chicago, Chapin Hall now celebrates twenty years as a leading source of research and expertise about the needs of children and the service systems designed to meet those needs.

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