The Department of Child Development and Family Studies is an important contributor to Purdue Extension , the centerpiece of the University's land-grant mission. Through Human Development Extension, the department circulates research information and develops educational materials that are used by local county Extension educators and volunteers to address issues facing children, youth, and families.

Within the department, Dee Love and Judy Myers-Walls are the two human development Extension specialists who provide expertise to Extension educators in Indiana's 92 counties. Graduate research assistants are a valuable part of this work.

Recent program development efforts include the following:

• Provider-Parent Partnerships website. The quality of the relationship between parents and childcare providers is crucial in supporting children in out of home care. The website seeks to improve quality childcare by providing information and resources to childcare providers as they work with the parents and families of the children they serve.
• Purple Wagon Web site. This website was launched originally on September 11, 2001 as Terrorism and Children. Reintroduced in 2007 as Purple Wagon, it includes materials for parents, teachers, children/youth, researchers and reporters about talking to children about terrorism, war, and peace.
• Parenting Piece by Piece is a curriculum outline for a series of eight parenting education sessions. It was designed for use with parents who have been mandated to attend parenting training due to their identification as physically or emotionally abusive and/or neglectful parents.
• Teen Decisions curriculum. A youth and adult education program that addresses issues surrounding healthy adolescent sexuality by using an improvisational theater format.
• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Legal and Policy Challenges is a video-based program for grandparents raising grandchildren, professionals who work with them, and community members. The program consists of a videotape and a CD ROM which includes program outlines for the facilitator.