The report emphasizes the need to improve the well-being of children and families and for adults and parents to hold both themselves and their public leaders accountable for fair, just, and effective policies, programs, and services for children. The discussion notes growing hardships among children and families, increasing numbers of children lacking health insurance, the deaths of children from firearms violence, and the persistence of school segregation and disparities in the quality of education. It notes that every day three children die from child abuse, 15 die from guns, 2,350 are in adult jails, 8,189 are reported abused or neglected, and 135,000 bring guns to school. Promising initiatives are highlighted in the areas of health care, early childhood development, violence prevention, intervention in homelessness, adolescent pregnancy prevention, and other areas. Figures, tables, and index