This special issue was prepared under the cosponsorship of Division 12"s Section on Clinical Child Psychology and the American Psychological Association (APA) Committee on Children, Youth, and Families (CYF). The articles present original research including controlled interventions and comprehensive and critical reviews of issues relevant to policy. In addition to considering the impact of poverty itself -- in the short and long term -- the chapter authors examine numerous correlated factors including prenatal methadone exposure, low birth weight, other biological risks, racial and ethnic minority status, neighborhood disadvantage, need for integrated medical and psychosocial services, supportive home environments, parental anger, and divorce.