This National Skills Coalition blogpost summarizes the Coalition’s work on non-degree credentials and how to define quality non-degree credentials that are valid, reliable, and transparent. The blogpost also explores how states could support industry partnerships, expand apprenticeships and work-based learning, and increase financial aid and non-tuition supportive services for persons seeking non-degree credentials.

This MDRC brief is an evaluation of the Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) Project in Vermont, a randomized controlled trial. The report, which summarizes trial findings, examines the two key elements of the behavioral intervention that address noncustodial parents. One element was a change in the letters and outreach that parents receive to increase their meeting participation. A second element pertained to structural changes to the meetings that resulted in agreements between the parents. These changes led to the creation of Vermont Office of Child Support Services “Resolution Meetings” that parents attended instead of court-based Case Manager conferences as a result of previous non-compliance.

This Urban Institute report presents ways that young parents (under the age of 25) can balance education and work and offers recommendations on how public policy and educational institutions can support young parents. The report draws from interviews and data analysis from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

This research brief from the Office of Child Support Enforcement identifies findings from a five-site Parenting Time Opportunities for Children (PTOC) grant. The grant, awarded to child support agencies in California, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Oregon, was intended to demonstrate how child support agencies can include parenting time orders in child support enforcement actions. The brief describes how increases in noncustodial parenting time, with safeguards in place for child welfare, led to improved relationships and increased compliance with child support payment orders.

This American Enterprise Institute podcast features a presentation from Clarence H. Carter, the Director of the Office of Family Assistance and Acting Director of the Office of Community Services at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This presentation covers Director Carter’s vision for a re-imagined safety net which builds the capacity of TANF clients and how local service providers’ expertise and creativity can be leveraged.

This Child Trends report reviews the use of existing funding and challenges of providing services and support for young people in transition from foster care. The report’s findings are drawn from 19 child welfare leaders in eight jurisdictions. Funding sources examined in this report primarily include Title IV-E Foster Care Program and the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood.

This U.S. Department of Labor’s Competency Model Clearinghouse offers three new resources to support career pathway development. They include How to Crosswalk Competency Models for Curriculum Development: A Video Series Concept, a set of videos that illustrate how community colleges and employers use competency models to develop curricula; Customizing Competency Models Through Convening Guide, a set of how-to-guides to create partnerships among regional workforce partners to develop customized competency models that are based on regional labor market needs; and U.S. DOL Competency Model Peer Learning Group, a workforce development practitioner learning series on how to use and find resources within the agency’s Competency Model Clearinghouse.

The National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families will host a webinar on October 10, 2019 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET to discuss strategies for supporting parents of children with special needs. Presenters will share tips on what parents can do to create a hopeful future for themselves as a couple and for their child. Topics to be covered include strategies parents can use after finding out that their newborn has a developmental disability, and resources for helping later in their child’s transition to adulthood. This webinar is intended for service providers who work with parents as well as parents and guardians themselves. Speakers from the UCLA School of Nursing, University of Utah, and Utah Parent Center will present.

This Institute for Research on Poverty research paper offers an interpretation of the extent of multidimensional deprivation from 2008 to 2017. The analysis draws from the American Community Survey, and the paper measures changes in deprivation levels across state lines and breaks down deprivation according to age, gender, household income, and race.

This Urban Institute report reviews how patients can access opioid use disorder treatment at facilities in New Jersey that offer pharmacotherapy as a treatment option. The report summarizes phone survey findings about service availability, wait times, Medicaid coverage for treatment, and county-specific data to assess the demand for treatment options.