Objective To assess the effectiveness of outreach strategies for expanding insurance coverage of children who are eligible for health insurance schemes. Methods We searched The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library 2009, Issue 2), PubMed (1951 to 2010), EMBASE (1966 to 2009), PsycINFO (1967 to 2009) and other relevant databases and websites. In addition, we searched the reference lists of included studies and relevant reviews, and carried out a citation search for included studies to find more potentially relevant studies. Randomized controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, controlled before-after studies and interrupted time series which evaluated the effects of outreach strategies on increasing health insurance coverage for children. The included strategies were increasing awareness of schemes, modifying enrolment, improving management and organization of insurance schemes, and mixed strategies. Two review authors independently screened literatures, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias. We narratively summarized the data. Results We included two studies, both from the United States. One randomized controlled trial study with a low risk of bias showed that community-based case managers who provided health insurance information, application support were effective in enrolling Latino American children into health insurance schemes (RR=1.68, 95%CI 1.44 to 1.96, n=257). The second quasi-randomized controlled trial, with an unclear risk of bias, indicated that handing out insurance application materials in hospital emergency departments can increase enrolment of children into health insurance (RR=1.50, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.18, n=223). Conclusion The two studies included in this review provide evidence that providing health insurance information and application assistance and handing out application materials in hospital emergency departments can probably both improve insurance coverage of children. But the application of the interventions to other countries beyond the US still depends on contextual factors of health medical systems. Further studies evaluating the effectiveness of different outreach strategies for expanding health insurance coverage of children in different countries are needed, with careful attention given to study design.