This paper was published in February 2000 as CASEpaper 34 by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics. It was written by Sheldon Danziger and Jane Waldfogel and is based on a Conference held in 1998 at Columbia University which looked at the investments required in child development to break the cycle of poverty. It concentrates on disadvantaged children and their families from pregnancy to adolescence.