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In a 1987 article, Peter R. Rossi promulgated "The Iron Law of Evaluation and Other Metallic Rules." The Metallic Laws were meant as an informal (and humorous) overstatement of the weakness of contemporary evaluations of social programs. Rossi' s underlying worry was not so much about the state of evaluation technology in the abstract, but, rather, in its inability to advance our broad understanding of social problems and what to do about them---in other words, to make evaluation policy relevant. Rossi attributed the continuing failure to develop successful "large-scale social programs" to the failure to build a strong knowledge base for this kind of "social engineering." The qualities of studies that enable such accumulated learning are variously labeled "external validity," "generalizability," "applicability," or "transferability." This Special Issue includes five papers that seek to explore and apply this understanding., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

This introduction summarizes the articles in this collection. It describes how the articles address one or more of the key elements of the child care research model: (a) selecting and measuring the independent variablesto determine the characteristics ("qualities") of the child care environment (and, in some studies, the characteristics of parents and family), (b) selecting and measuring the dependent variablesto determine the child's physical and developmental status after a period of time in a particular child care arrangement (usually a school year) compared with that of children in other arrangements (or simply the same child before spending time in the arrangement), (c) establishing causal linksbetween the independent and dependent variables that are either assumed in randomized experiments or estimated through statistical controls in nonexperimental studies, and (d) assessing impacts across subgroups to see whether the program benefits one particular group more (or less) than others. The collection closes with a proposal to develop a systematic federal research program to pursue improvements in child care and early childhood education programs.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has enjoyed extraordinary bipartisan support stemming from the widespread belief that research studies have proven that WIC "works." Although some studies suggest real dietary and health improvements, the greatest benefits only apply to WIC's prenatal program (just a small part of the total program). Even here, weaknesses in the research render the findings highly uncertain. The three most significant weaknesses are (1) selection bias, (2) simultaneity bias, and (3) lack of generalizeability. The resulting uncertainty places WIC's possible impacts on infant mortality, prematurity, and birthweight on a range from zero to substantial. For infants, children, and postpartum and breastfeeding mothers, the only impacts seem to be small to modest effects on anemia and nutrient intake. This paper does not argue that WIC's weaknesses justify abandoning or even cutting the program. On the contrary, there should be a sustained effort to make the program more effective. This effort should start with a policy debate about WIC's role and impacts, coupled with a grant of greater flexibility to state and local WIC agencies to open the program to innovation and experimentation. To increase WIC's positive impacts, we propose a series of possible reforms, each to be thoroughly evaluated.

This article suggests a number of improvements in the reporting and investigation of child sexual abuse cases. The article begins with a reminder that our eagerness to protect children cannot be allowed to overcome our nation's commitment to fairness and due process. For both the alleged perpetrator and the child victim, much is at stake in these cases, and our system must strike a balance to protect the rights of both. Currently there is a problem with both underreporting of suspicions of child abuse and overreporting of cases that are unfounded or cannot be substantiated. Several recommendations are made to make reporting more accurate. These include: clarify reporting laws, expand and improve training for reporters, develop agency policies regarding reporting, modify liability and immunity rules, improve efforts at screening reports, and provide feedback to reporters. Finally, the article discusses the importance of interviewing children and offers some techniques for doing so properly. Issues of interpreting physical and behavioral signs of abuse are also discussed, and the importance of accurate record keeping is emphasized.

In the United States, about 25% of all child fatalities attributed to abuse or neglect occur after the child has been reported to a child protective agency. (Tens of thousands of other children receive serious injuries short of death while under child protective supervision.) Increasingly, individual workers are being blamed when the children in their care suffer further maltreatment. In all parts of the country, workers are being given administrative reprimands, are being fired, downgraded, or reassigned for mishandling their cases. Many are being sued for professional malpractice; some are being criminally prosecuted for official malfeasance and negligent homicide. Blaming workers is sometimes deeply unfair and fear of unfair criticism leads to defensive social work and, hence, to overintervention into private family matters. Existing laws encourage this unfair criticism by greatly overstating the ability of workers to predict future maltreatment. Laws can be reformulated to help workers better protect maltreated children. Laws should make clear that, subject to certain minor exceptions, protective action is warranted only when the parents' past behavior seriously injured the children or was capable of causing serious injury.

In June 1981 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that parents whose parental rights were in jeopardy of legal termination did not have an automatic right to appointed counsel. The author reports on the details and possible consequences of the Supreme Court's decision that are of immediate concern to child welfare professionals.

Amendments to many child abuse laws mandate the reporting by staff members of suspected abuse or neglect in out-of-home settings. Legal protections, as well as potential liabilities for those filing or failing to file such complaints are discussed.