How governments should direct money to families with children is a constant topic of political debate. But the complexity of the ever-changing tax and benefits system makes its overall impact on families anything but transparent, and trends in government support for children hard to distinguish. This report provides a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of trends in child-contingent support from the mid 1970s to the introduction of the new tax credits, and relates this to changes in tax and benefit policy, the characteristics of households with children, and the costs of raising children.