Practical Guidelines for Educating Policymakers: The Family Impact Seminar as an Approach to Advancing the Interests of Children and Families in the Policy Arena

Abstract

Psychologists are well positioned to contribute to policymaking on issues affecting the well-being of children, youth, and families. A good deal of psychological research is relevant to policy issues such as child mental health services, child care, adoption and foster care, and children's media. In this article we offer an alternative to direct policy advocacy as a means for psychologists' involvement in the policy arena. Policy education, a nonpartisan and nonadversarial approach to working with policymakers, is described and differentiated from child advocacy. We then present an example of 1 approach to policy education, the Family Impact Seminar. The article closes with a discussion of lessons we have learned regarding effectively communicating research to policymakers.

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