Co-regulation is a process where practitioners create safe spaces and nurturing relationships and coach youth in the use of self-regulation. The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation has developed this guide to show how integrating co-regulation may improve program implementation and outcomes. The guide highlights the ACF-sponsored Self-Regulation Training Approaches and Resources to Improve Staff Capacity for Implementing Healthy Marriage Programs for Youth (SARHM) project, which builds on a set of resources for educators in the Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programs for youth ages 14 to 24. Research questions raised in the guide include what key elements of co-regulation strategies can program facilitators use to support youth self-regulation, what capacity building supports are needed by program facilitators, and how feasible are co-regulation strategies in the implementation of youth HMRE programs.

The Urban Institute hosted a virtual webinar on March 31, 2021 which covered findings from a new resource guide for practitioners highlighting how youth-serving organizations adapted their programs to engage youth virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Presenters from Jewish Vocational Service, i.c.stars, Baltimore’s Promise, and the Urban Institute illustrated strategies that the organizations used to provide education and training, employment, career readiness, and mental health services remotely to youth and young adults ages 16 to 24.

This April 9, 2020 webinar, hosted by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, was facilitated by Iain De Jong of OrgCode Consulting, Inc. The webinar highlighted several considerations for staff working in Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) and Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) programs to support individuals remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Webinar topics included: staff wellness; communicating with program participants; keeping connected; considerations regarding prioritizing time and who to serve; supporting harm reduction, financial matters, and landlords; helping with crisis planning, changing support plans; and addressing food security.

This report reviews lessons learned in the implementation of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s seven-year Family-Centered Community Change (FCCC) initiative in Buffalo, New York; Columbus, Ohio; and San Antonio, Texas. The FCCC is an integrated two-generation service model offering child care, job training, and financial and employment services. The report presents lessons about collaborating, integrating services, and building strong partnerships at the community level.

This Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report provides a summary of recent data to illustrate the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the rental and mortgage market and its effect on low-income and minority households. The report notes that over 11 million renter and homeowner households were significantly overdue on housing payments as of December 2020, placing them at greater risk of foreclosure or eviction.

The Iowa Department of Human Rights has implemented the Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS) program for more than 30 years. Based on utilizing a coaching approach during home visits with families deemed at greatest risk of long-term welfare receipt, the FaDSS program assists participants with short- and long-term goal setting as they work toward economic self-sufficiency. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report reviews the FaDSS program’s design and implementation and answers key questions about the intervention design, the factors that appeared to have impeded or facilitated the intervention’s implementation, and the clients’ experiences with coaching and the services they received.

The 20th Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) was held virtually on October 13–15 and October 19–22, 2020. The conference sessions were organized in six thematic tracks: TANF Programs, Policies, and Populations; Employment and Mobility in the Labor Market; Youth Well-Being and the Transition to Adulthood; Strengthening Families, Fatherhood, Marriages, and Relationships; Evaluating Social Programs, Building Evidence, and Using Data; and Approaches to Alleviate Poverty and Expand Opportunity. A complete set of videos covering plenary and breakout sessions and a career panel is now available online.

The National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) will host its 39th annual conference titled “Protecting Our Children: Connectedness, Resilience, and Persistence” as a virtual event from April 11 to April 14, 2021. Conference participants will include child welfare, mental health, and juvenile justice service providers; legal professionals; child advocates; and tribal, state, and federal leaders. Conference goals include highlighting successful strategies for developing effective services, innovative child welfare and children’s mental health service delivery practices, approaches for financing and sustaining children’s services, and strategies to engage youth and families in developing services and policies for systemic change. The conference will provide opportunities for peer networking to support work toward permanency for all American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families, as well as time to share research on AI/AN children’s well-being and effective child welfare and children’s mental health services, practices, and policies. There is a conference registration fee.

The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) model is premised on how an individual’s perception of fairness and how they were treated during judicial proceedings impact compliance with child support orders more than the perceived fairness of the outcome. Funded as part of a PJAC evaluation grant from the Office of Child Support Enforcement, these six research briefs prepared by MDRC assess lessons learned from the model’s implementation by the Georgia Department of Human Services, Division of Child Support Services.

This research-to-practice brief supports better understanding the intersection between child maltreatment and intimate partner violence so that comprehensive community-based prevention and intervention programs can be provided effectively. The brief notes the impact of domestic violence on children in the long-term and discusses how adult survivors of domestic violence and their children need support that promotes their well-being. The brief also outlines strategies for capacity building and collaboration implemented between child protection agencies and domestic violence programs in Massachusetts, Florida, Iowa, and Connecticut.

(See also Resources on "intimate partner violence" in the Resource Library)