Mothers living in poverty often face complex circumstances and major stressors that strain mental health and make it difficult to get and keep a job. The Mental Health Outreach for Mothers or MOMS Partnership® is a community-based model for helping mothers with low incomes manage their stress, reduce depressive symptoms, and improve their social and economic mobility. Central to the model is an 8-week stress management course based on cognitive behavioral therapy that is co-facilitated by skilled clinicians and mothers from the community with lived experience similar to mothers who enroll in the program; the mothers with lived experience are called Community Mental Health Ambassadors (CMHAs). Other features of the program include the use of incentives to support regular attendance and providing services in a central community location. The MOMS Partnership was launched by the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut in 2011 and has been implemented in TANF, public housing agencies, and other related programs. The Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on June 29, 2023 which provided participants with the opportunity to learn more about MOMS and the implementation experiences in TANF programs. Speakers included staff from Elevate Policy Lab and The Adjacent Possible; MOMS Stress Management facilitators; and human services leaders from Maine, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. Speakers delivered presentations on What is The MOMS Partnership?, MOMS in Practice – Lessons from Clinicians and CMHAs, and Operating MOMS in TANF and Related Programs.

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?

This two-part June 23, 2021 podcast explores early childhood programming that includes services and supports to help families by helping fathers. The podcast’s first part examines Bright Beginnings, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit which delivers center- and home-based Head Start programming to children and families. It includes a discussion with the program’s administrator and a maintenance technician who also has been a participating father. The second part examines research from Mathematica and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation to understand approaches for including and engaging fathers in social service programming.

Parents can be reluctant to engage with child protection agencies since they realize these agencies are part of a system that can remove their children from their homes; however, it is crucial for agencies to develop meaningful engagement with these families, as engaging caregivers successfully in child welfare services has been associated with fewer placements in out-of-home care and less risk of repeat abuse. This research-to-practice brief cites motivational interviewing (MI) as a promising approach used by child protection practitioners to facilitate meaningful family engagement. Essential elements of MI are identified, including an authentic partnership between case manager and client based on nonjudgmental acceptance of the client, compassion for the client, and recognition of the client’s desire for change. The brief lists communication strategies such as asking open-ended questions that practitioners use in MI, and it concludes with a discussion of how the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency has used the MI approach.

This report highlights findings from a process evaluation of the Urban Alliance’s High School Internship Program in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, and Chicago. The Urban Alliance program model aims to empower economically disadvantaged high school seniors to aspire, work, and succeed. The program provides youth participants with workplace skills training, opportunities for internships to gain work experience, mentorship at the internship site, and coaching support from case managers during youths’ participation in the program as well as for program alumni. The findings of this first of three reports are drawn from interviews, focus groups, and surveys of participating students, case managers, and employers as well as a review of program and secondary data.

This issue brief profiles the design and implementation of the 2Gen approach undertaken by the District of Columbia TANF program. The brief covers how staff were trained in 2Gen approaches, and the reorganization of TANF intake and eligibility processes. The report also features the District’s redesign of the TANF Employment and Education program, integration of 2Gen approaches for homeless families, and institution of a “whole family” model in universal pre-K and early childhood programs.

As a part of continued support to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs and their endeavors to serve individuals and families virtually during the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Family Assistance recorded a PeerTA webinar on June 24, 2020. TANF staff and those they serve had to retool quickly to adapt to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Staff who conduct in-person case management and coaching are looking for ways to continue these needed services virtually in order to protect the health and safety of individuals and families, ensure the health and safety of their own families, and maintain confidentiality by using virtual services that are secure. Luckily, remote case management services are not new concepts, as they are increasingly being used across TANF and other client/student serving organizations to provide efficient and effective support to those they would normally see face-to-face.

This panel webinar discussed virtual TANF case management and coaching strategies considering the risks associated with COVID-19. Information was delivered in a panel format with question and answer dialogue with panelists. Through the panel webinar registration process, registrants had the opportunity to pose questions for the panelists and the field to consider as they make critical decisions about their ongoing operations, including use of virtual tools and processes to conduct coaching/case management sessions.

Speakers included:

• Annette Waters, Ph.D., Social Science Analyst, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
• DaiJuan Wade, Supervisor -- Special Projects, Operations and Training, District of Columbia Department of Human Services
• Suzie Miller, Workforce Programs Manager, Arapahoe/Douglas Workforce Center 
• Mary Roberto, PeerTA Project Director, Manhattan Strategy Group (Panel Moderator)