The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal nutrition program that offers nourishing foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and referrals to health care for nutritionally at-risk…

Through the federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), states administer child care subsidy programs to support low-income parents’ employment and expand children’s access to high-quality child care. Many Hispanic children stand to benefit…

Human-Centered Design (HCD) is a problem-solving and design approach that appears to have potential for promoting effective, efficient, and compassionate service delivery aligned with the mission of the Administration for Children and Families.…

Compassion can be defined as “feeling for” others who are in pain with warmth, empathetic concern, and the capacity to understand their perspective and intentions. Compassion is necessary for staff in human service settings to effectively engage…

The Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) project uses rapid learning cycles in an effort to improve the enrollment, engagement, and retention of fathers in nine current federal Fatherhood Family-focused,…

This brief describes the experiences of nine families with low incomes and their children during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, from March through September 2020. The research was conducted by interviews with 9 adults from three…

This brief looks at ways to assist young parenting students (ages 18–25) that are highly motivated to pursue a college education to improve their own well-being as well as their children’s. It focuses on the challenges they face in seeking higher…

Partnerships between Early Head Start (EHS) programs and child care (CC) providers aim to increase access to high-quality, comprehensive services that meet the needs of infants and toddlers from families with low incomes. This brief uses data…

Research shows that young people with histories of child welfare involvement work less often and earn lower wages during the transition to adulthood than their peers without this experience. However, little is known about whether programs that…

Fathers’ role within families has gradually evolved from traditional family breadwinner to that of more full and equal coparent involved in all aspects of caregiving. Research has shown that positive father-child involvement leads to better…