People facing economic instability often need more than one program or service. This might be particularly true for participants in certain programs—for example, families receiving TANF benefits might be more likely to face food insecurity given…

Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programming is designed to teach participants how to communicate effectively, manage conflict, identify signs of an unhealthy relationship, and other skills important for developing and…

The first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic put extraordinary demands on program administrators and front-line staff members, as service delivery methods and client needs rapidly changed. Workers providing essential services during this…

Studies show much higher rates of physical health issues and mental health and/or substance use disorders among populations experiencing homelessness than among people who are stably housed. This Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services…

The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially challenging for American families with children. The U.S. Surgeon General as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s…

Child support is an important resource for children who live apart from a parent, but there are many reasons why noncustodial parents may be unable or unwilling to pay. The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at…

States, counties, and tribes are modernizing their child support programs through holistic, family-centered policies and practices that build partnerships with parents instead of adversarial relationships. They go beyond collecting money to…

Partnerships between TANF-funded programs and Community Action Agencies (CAAs) are the focus of this video series just released by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) and the Office of Community Services (OCS). Filmed at four sites across the…

The U.S. Congress temporarily expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide economic assistance for families with children. Between July and December 2021, CTC increased the amount of money they provided per child…

Building on previous work developing a roadmap for system-level change to better support young families, the…