Introduction : prospects for children's well-being / Mary A. Jensen -- Entitlement in early care and education : a tale of two rights / Sharon L. Kagan -- Children's welfare rights are entitlements / Colin A. Wringe -- The concept of entitlement and its incompatibility with American legal culture / Gary B. Melton and Megan Sullivan -- Well-being, entitlements, and investment in children : an economic perspective / Robert Haveman and Barbara Wolfe -- Children's rights in a civilized society / Stuart N. Hart -- Equal opportunity for infants and young children : myth or reality? / Stanley I. Greenspan -- The other childhood : the classroom worlds of poor children / Valerie Polakow -- Health care entitlements for children : providing health services as if children really mattered / Neal Halfon and Gale Berkowitz.

The dilemma of rural American communities and their children / Gordon Hoke -- Creating a political climate that values and supports children / Cheryl D. Hayes -- Supporting families in their creation of contexts for child rearing / Bernice Weissbourd -- Building villages : lessons from policy entrepreneurs / Heather B. Weiss -- Epilogue : beyond visions of entitlement : some personal reflections / Stacie G. Goffin.