PADIN is experimentally implemented in the poorest municipalities in Ceará. Many of these municipalities are characterized by high rates of adult illiteracy as well as infant mortality. For this reason, PADIN's target population are the families with children up to age three years and eleven months and whose per capita family income is below R$ 70 per month (or roughly U$27 according to the exchange rate on 01/23/2015). During this experimental period, the research team will randomly assign half of the census areas within these municipalities to the treatment group and the remaining to the control group. 

Participant families will be surveyed at baseline and one year after their participation in the program. In both interviews, the research team will measure child development by the Ages and Stages Scale; the quality of the home environment and parental-child attachment will be assessed by the HOME Scale; parental beliefs about the importance of early investments will be ascertained with an adaptation of the instrument used in the PHD Study; and demographic characteristics will follow the survey instrument developed for the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística.