Motivational interviewing (MI) is a counseling technique designed to help clients confront their mixed emotions about change and find the internal resources to motivate action. The MI method is rooted in the notion that people are more successful in overcoming ambivalence when they hear their own arguments for behavior change. This blogpost is divided into two sections: How Does Motivational Interviewing Work? and Motivational Interviewing Techniques.

The Family First Prevention Services Act (Family First) authorized new federal Title IV-E funding for evidence-based programs (EBPs) that have been rated and approved by the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse. One such EBP, Motivational Interviewing (MI), has the potential to change the way child welfare professionals work with and support families. MI creates affirming and transformative service experiences through which workers and clinicians have been trained to reach, engage, and empower families; MI represents an opportunity for agencies to deliver improved outcomes for children and families using a practice that is approved for federal funding under Family First. Available for downloading, the Motivational Interviewing Guide is designed to assist state and local Title IV-E agencies with implementing MI as a well-supported EBP in their Title IV-E Prevention Plans.

Recent research has led policymakers and scholars to argue that some people might not achieve economic independence in part because of difficulty applying the self-regulation skills—sometimes referred to as soft skills or executive functioning skills—needed to get, keep, and advance in a job. Evidence suggests that facing poverty, and the multiple stresses that accompany it, can make it particularly difficult to develop and use self-regulation skills. However, emerging research suggests that employment coaching from a trained staff member may strengthen self-regulation skills, and these skills, in turn, may improve employment outcomes for low-income people. This 2022 Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) session presents initial implementation and impact findings from ACF’s Evaluation of Employment Coaching for TANF and Related Populations. The session also included a practitioner’s perspective on implications of the findings. Lauren Deutsch Stanton, ACF, moderated this session and Ruthie Liberman, EMPath, served as the panel’s discussant. Speakers also included Sheena McConnell and Quinn Moore, both from Mathematica.

This video, prepared by MDRC’s Economic Mobility, Housing, and Communities policy area, describes MyGoals for Employment Success (MyGoals). MyGoals is an innovative employment coaching program intended to help recipients of federal housing subsidies who are not employed find work, build careers, and advance toward greater self-sufficiency. Informed by behavioral psychology, MyGoals focuses on supporting participants as they set and accomplish goals that are meaningful to them in four domains: education and training, financial management, personal well-being, and family well-being.

As Millennials and Gen Z employees begin to dominate the workforce, they will demand economic security and stability and workplace freedom and flexibility. This blogpost discusses how these workforce changes will necessitate a thoughtful design of the services needed to support employers and employees, including options for child care. The post summarizes available data and research on the changing nature of workplaces, workers, and the issues impacting our nation’s economic success, and reflects on how a reimagined child care and early education system can better meet these changes.

Currently, almost 5 million (or about one-third of) children younger than age 6 living in families with working parents have parents who work before 7:00 a.m. or after 6:00 p.m. on weekdays or on weekends. Further, children of color, children in families with low incomes, and children in single-parent families are disproportionately likely to have parents working these hours. However, very little is known about what child care arrangements these parents want during nontraditional hours or about the policy constraints and opportunities that may affect their ability to access the care they want.

This report presents findings from a mixed methods study of parents in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, and Oklahoma that explores the following questions:

• What do we know about the potential demand for child care during nontraditional hours?
• What child care arrangements do parents of young children recommend and use for nontraditional hours?
• What role do children’s needs play in shaping parents’ recommendations for nontraditional hour child care?
• What other constraints and issues do parents report concerning nontraditional-hour child care?
• What are the implications of the answers to these questions for policy and practice?

Family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) child care is used by millions of families, whether it is a regular, paid arrangement, a grandmother who “just provides a few hours of care each week” for her grandchildren, or a well-known neighbor who “watches the kids on her block after school.” This report is a follow-up to Sustaining Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care During and After COVID-19: Survey Findings, which offered guiding principles for policymakers to take into consideration as they designed child care policies to be more effective and equitable for families and providers. The report demonstrates how those guiding principles can be applied using specific examples of state strategies to support and sustain FFN child care and empower FFN providers.

The recent large investments in the Tribal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, and American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act present an opportunity for tribes to enhance their early childhood systems to meet their goals, promote child development, and support working parents. The significantly increased funds offer tribes a chance to invest broadly in their child care and early childhood infrastructure to support higher program quality and improved child and family outcomes. This Information Memorandum provides an overview of how Tribal Lead Agencies can use existing CCDF funds, including supplemental funds provided through the ARP Act, to implement their tribe’s vision for a stronger system of high-quality early care and education at the tribal community level. It offers examples of activities that Tribal Lead Agencies may implement that are allowable under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act and the CCDF regulations.

The United States is in a child care crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shown how difficult it is for families to access quality, affordable care and providers to make ends meet. The Better Life Lab team at New America sought to understand what innovations existed in the child care and early education space. Issued from June to September 2022, this five-part article series shares findings regarding what innovations could work in improving child care access, quality, and affordability.

This four-part report series examines the use of paid child care and labor force participation of mothers and includes Part 1 – Paid Child Care Usage in the U.S. and Across States; Part 2 – Labor Force Participation; Part 3 – Economic Growth Modeling; and Part 4 – Child Care Data in the Current Population Survey, A Primer. Each part of the series includes a primer, a glossary of common terms, and relevant infographics. There are also fact sheets on paid care usage and labor force participation for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.