Child Development Accounts (CDAs)—also called
Child Savings Accounts (CSAs)—provide assets and
encourage saving and asset building for children.
(See the accompanying document, The Case for a
Nationwide Child Development Account Policy.)
An efficient, trusted, and sustainable system for
delivering CDAs is already being implemented in
some states. A nationwide policy would require
federal funding and changes in policy and practice
to deliver CDAs for all children with a seed deposit
as early as birth.
Research shows that CDAs have positive effects on asset building and healthy child and family development, with greater effects for people of color and low-income households. Asset building over time is the key to these results. Positive effects for children and families occur even before the money is spent for education.