Some child support policymakers and researchers have recently questioned the fairness and effectiveness of pursuing civil contempt to secure child support payments, particularly for parents with low incomes. The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) demonstration tested a different approach to improving child support payments. Developed by the Office of Child Support Enforcement, PJAC integrated principles of procedural justice (the idea of fairness in processes) into enforcement practices in six child support agencies across the United States as an alternative to standard contempt proceedings. The PJAC demonstration project used a random assignment research design; parents who had reached a contempt referral were assigned either to a PJAC services group, which had access to child support services informed by procedural justice, or to a business-as-usual group, which proceeded to the standard contempt process. This report compares the outcomes of parents in these two groups.

Healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) staff are essential for successful implementation of HMRE services, including recruiting and enrolling participants, delivering curriculum workshops, providing case management, and carrying out the behind-the-scenes work that makes an organization run smoothly. Research points to three key factors that can affect high-quality service delivery: (1) capacity (whether staff have the necessary knowledge and skills to provide the services), (2) motivation (whether staff have buy-in and confidence to deliver the services), and (3) opportunity (whether the work environment and resources enable staff to perform at their best).

This brief presents four tips for supporting HMRE staff and examples from the experiences of the HMRE grant recipients who participated in the Strengthening the Implementation of Marriage and Relationship Programs (SIMR) study. The SIMR study was designed to develop and test promising approaches to address implementation challenges related to recruitment, retention, and content engagement in HMRE services.

The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network hosted a webinar in May 2023 to cover strategies for tribal programs wishing to engage in collaborative services to support kinship and grandfamilies. The webinar addressed how government or private organizations can best prepare for collaboration with tribes. Additionally, the webinar helped participants be able to discuss why grandfamilies and relative care providers can benefit from collaborative approaches among tribes, or between tribes and non-Native government or private service providers; become familiar with principles that support successful cross-cultural and cross-jurisdiction collaboration; and be able to explore and weigh several issues when planning a collaboration. The recording and presentation are available for review.

Work experience and work-based learning are two related strategies for helping people with low incomes improve employment and earnings outcomes. Work experience and work-based learning could include paid or unpaid work or learning experiences in a work setting. This Evidence Snapshot brief summarizes what rigorous research tells us about seven interventions that used work experience and work-based learning and their impacts on earnings, employment, the receipt of public benefits, and education and training. The brief helps TANF administrators, policymakers, researchers, and the general public apply this evidence of program effectiveness to their context and questions that matter to them.

Sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), the Family Input Study seeks to 1) understand how TANF, child support, and other human services programs gather and use family input for program improvement; 2) identify ways for TANF and child support programs to incorporate family input for program improvement; and 3) identify the successes and challenges these programs face in gathering and using family input. To support programs in planning for and engaging families in program improvement, the Family Input Study has developed a toolkit of resources, guides, and tools for TANF and child support program administrators and practitioners.

The Study is seeking TANF and child support programs run by states, tribes, territories, and counties to pilot test the toolkit. During the 12-month pilot test period, participating programs will lead a program improvement effort using the Family Input Resources toolkit and input from the families they serve to guide their effort.

If interested in participating in this pilot test opportunity, please complete the expression of interest form by May 12, 2023.

Accompanying this request are two one-pagers. The first document is a set of FAQs which identifies the expectations and benefits of participating in the Family Input Study. The second document is background information about the Family Input Study.

For questions, please contact the study team lead (Jeanette Holdbrook at jholdbrook@mathematica-mpr.com) or the OPRE project officer (Lisa Zingman at lisa.zingman@acf.gov).

In recent years, many people have experienced poor mental health, with over 30% of adults in the United States reporting symptoms of anxiety and/or depression in February 2023. Drug overdose death rates increased by 50% from 2019 to 2021, primarily driven by fentanyl. Increases in drug overdose deaths and suicide deaths have disproportionately affected many people of color. Negative mental health and substance use outcomes have also affected youth and young adults. These state fact sheets examining state and national-level data on mental health and substance use illustrate how mental health and substance use outcomes and coverage vary from state to state.

Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP)™ is an Annie E. Casey Foundation initiative which creates supportive career and education pathways for youth, ages 14–25, who have experienced foster care, criminal justice system involvement, or homelessness. This webpage discusses how participants in the 2023 National LEAP Convening reflected on their collective work in three areas: LEAP’s support of education and career trajectories for young people who have experienced public systems; how strategic partnerships with public systems can promote and expand the reach of equitable career and education pathways; and the role of young adults in cultivating equitable pathways to school and work. Key takeaways from the convening reflect the following lessons: youth engagement is essential, scale strategies for today and tomorrow, and embrace innovative partnerships.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration hosted a webinar on May 8, 2023 and brought together experts from Native American organizations and tribal entities to discuss the prevalent use of opioids in Tribal communities and how the workforce system combats the impacts associated with the opioid crisis. Following a presentation of an overview on the opioid and substance misuse in Native American communities, representatives from the Cherokee Nation shared how the tribe leverages its workforce system and Department of Labor grants to promote recovery and reintegration.

Employment retention services interventions offer a combination of services intended to help maintain employment and promote career advancement among people, often those with low incomes, who already have a job. This Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse Evidence Snapshot summarizes what rigorous research tells us about nine interventions that used employment retention services as their primary service and the interventions’ impacts on earnings, employment, the receipt of public benefits, and education and training. The Evidence Snapshot helps TANF administrators, policymakers, researchers, and the general public apply this evidence to contexts and questions that matter to them.

One in 30 youths, ages 13 to 24, and 1 in 10 young adults, ages 18 to 25, experience some form of homelessness over the course of a year. These youth face instability and trauma during an important developmental period which limits their growth and creates costly effects for them and the communities in which they live. This brief is the first in a series highlighting challenges and opportunities facing youth, ages 14 through 24, as part of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Thrive by 25® efforts. The brief analyzes youth homelessness and offers recommendations for how systems can make certain every young person has a place to call home - a safe and secure place to prepare for adulthood.