Hispanic Children & Families

The Child Trends Hispanic Institute provides timely and insightful research-based information and guidance to improve outcomes for Latino children. In supporting Latino families with children, Child Trends’ interdisciplinary team adopts a strengths-based approach to our research that explores the myriad factors that influence their well-being. Our projects provide timely and insightful research-based information and guidance to improve outcomes for Latino children. 

Our applied research agenda examines some of the most important issues facing Latino families, including poverty, accessible and high-quality child care, education, and family dynamics. Our goal is to analyze factors that hinder families’ access to opportunities for economic mobility, self-sufficiency, and overall well-being. Further, we build capacity in the field by providing tools, resources, and guides for researchers and by supporting emerging scholars. 

Through our leadership of the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families  (on which we partner with Duke University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and University of Maryland, College Park); the Latino Families Flourishing Project; and our partnership with researchers, community organizations, advocates, and funders, we provide policymakers, practitioners, the media, corporate leaders, parents, and private philanthropy with knowledge about Latino children, youth, and families in the United States to inform their decisions. We do this by providing statistical portraits of Hispanic children and parents, developing and conducting evaluations of programs aimed at Latinos, providing actionable research and support to many audiences, and building a national data infrastructure to adequately describe the strengths and diversity of Latino families.