The Frontiers of Innovation initiative from Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child released a short video about a theory of change to achieve breakthrough outcomes for vulnerable children and families. The video depicts the need to focus on building capabilities of caregivers, as well as strengthen communities that form the environment of crucial relationships for children’s lifelong development.

Children born into low-income families are at greater risk of experiencing persistent poverty during their childhood and long-term negative effects on their health, financial success, and general well-being. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) offers an opportunity to achieve two-generational goals for parents and their infant children. However, underfunded services and barriers to access can hold parents back and make it harder for them to lift their families out of poverty. This report from CLASP recommends a new framework for thinking about TANF in the context of the first year of a child’s life.

This report from the Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (OPRE) provides a comprehensive framework for understanding self-regulation in context, using a theoretical model that reflects the influence of biology, caregiving, and the environment on the development of self-regulation. It is part of a four-part series that also discusses topics such as stress as related to toxic stress, self-regulation in the context of youth development, and implications for programs and practice.

This 2-page resource from Nova Southeastern University provides tips for using the five general principles of Motivational Interviewing: 1) expressing empathy, 2) developing discrepancy, 3) avoiding argumentation, 4) rolling with resistance, 5) supporting self-efficacy. The resource describes what motivational interviewing is not, including how to avoid making assumptions about others, and provides tips about strategies for handling resistance and helping participants explore goals and hopes for the future.

Crittenton Women's Union's Bridge to Self-Sufficiency is a theory of change that takes a multi-faceted approach to fostering economic mobility. The theory describes a person’s advancement from poverty to economic self-sufficiency as a journey across a bridge supported by five critical pillars—family stability, well-being, education and training, financial management, and employment and career management. Coaches work with clients to identify strengths and help them cross the ‘bridge” to long-term goals of economic self-sufficiency.

This resource from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services summarizes findings and evidence from various reviews of studies and program evaluations to help stakeholders address childhood exposure to violence and improve outcomes for children, families, and communities.

This guide was created by the Children's Bureau to help caseworkers, foster parents, and other stakeholders learn about trauma experienced by youth in foster care. Additionally, the guide includes treatment options, including approaches other than medication, and strategies for seeking help for foster youth.

This Trauma-Informed Organizational Toolkit was created to provide homeless service providers a roadmap for becoming trauma-informed. The Toolkit provides concrete guidelines for modifying practices and policies and ensuring appropriate responses to the needs of families who have experienced traumatic stress.

Two Generations. One Future: An Anthology from the Ascend Fellowship at the Aspen Institute, edited by Dr. Christopher King, Dr. P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, and Dr. Mario Small, offers insights into 2-Gen 2.0 approaches spearheaded by 20 leaders from across sectors, including the fields of human services, mental health, justice-involved families, and early childhood. It is divided into four sections: 1) Underpinnings of two-generation strategies, 2) Addressing and empowering families, 3) Innovative policies and programs, and 4) Evaluating and fostering two-generation strategies. Led by the inaugural class of Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows, the Anthology offers the latest and most comprehensive picture of the two-generation field and its challenges, successes, and lessons.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program stakeholders and their human services partners increasingly understand the importance of meaningfully engaging noncustodial parents while also holding them accountable for the economic and social growth of their children. A noncustodial parent does not have primary care, custody, or control of the child and may have an obligation to pay child support. It is important to note that many noncustodial parents pay child support and are actively engaged in their children’s lives. However, barriers such as unemployment, underemployment, or incarceration can hinder noncustodial parents from providing for their children, even when many want to do so. Some TANF agencies and their partners have built programs to provide the necessary supports and connections for these individuals to help them achieve self-sufficiency/

The OFA PeerTA Network hosted a webinar on June 9, 2015 at 1:30 PM Eastern, titled Strategies for Building and Maintaining Noncustodial Parent Programs to share strategies for building and sustaining programs to engage and serve noncustodial parents. While previous webinars have focused on strategies to engage noncustodial parents, this webinar focused on the nuts and bolts of program development; it introduced several programs that have supported noncustodial parents for at least 10 years and explored how these sustainable programs were planned and initiated.

At the end of this webinar, participants were able to:

• be aware of three models of TANF programs and their partners creating programs to serve noncustodial parents
• understand how these programs began, including justifying the need for a program serving noncustodial parents, mapping available assets, and identifying a champion; and
• be ready to identify some next steps that they could take within their agencies to start a program that would work for their communities.
Featured presenters:

Ann Marie Winter, Chief Operating Officer, and Margie McGranahan, Employment Services Director, Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services. Established in 1996, Florida’s Noncustodial Parent Employment Program aims to help unemployed or underemployed noncustodial parents establish a pattern of regular child support payments by obtaining and maintaining employment. It is operated through a series of partnerships between organizations such as CareerSource Pinellas and the Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services.

Juan G. Valdez, Parent Support Services Manager, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. The Parent Support Services program in Illinois was established in April 1994 to provide noncustodial parents with a way to address their needs and concerns to support their children. TANF dollars are used to provide specific services to qualified noncustodial parents.

Mike Roberts, Human Services Program Specialist for Districts 2, 3 and 6, Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention. The Alabama Fatherhood Initiative is a joint effort of the Department of Human Resources Family Assistance and Child Support divisions, developed in 2002 to further the welfare reform goal of strengthening families, enhancing child support collections, and addressing other needs of children who are growing up without the involvement of natural fathers in their lives.