New research is beginning to shed light on how families used the expanded 2021 federal child tax credit (CTC), how this support affected outcomes for children, what kinds of barriers prevented many children in very low-income families from accessing the credit, and how all these impacts varied by race, ethnicity, income, geography, and other factors. The Urban Institute and the Berkeley Opportunity Lab will host a webinar on May 24, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET which will explore lessons from the 2021 CTC expansion, how cash assistance programs can enhance child well-being, and how state policymakers are moving forward with state-level credits.

In Austin/Travis County, there is a substantial gap between the need for and supply of nontraditional-hour child care, with only about 2,000 regulated child care slots (or about 4 percent of existing regulated supply) that are licensed to provide child care during nontraditional hours -- before 7:00 a.m. and after 6:00 p.m. during the traditional workweek and anytime on weekends. This report presents findings from interviews, focus groups, and analyses of survey and administrative data to describe nontraditional-hour child care demand, supply, and preferences. Two of the report’s findings are: 1) the potential demand for nontraditional-hour child care is higher among groups facing structural barriers to opportunities and 2) an inadequate supply of nontraditional-hour child care has decreased families’ financial well-being and businesses’ ability to access talented employees.

The 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) led to a historic reduction in poverty in the United States, particularly for children. This essay discusses where in the country the expanded CTC reduced child poverty the most. It also examines how the reduction in child poverty varies across two characteristics: state-level cost of living and state-level poverty. The essay notes that there is evidence that the policy has reduced child poverty at both the family and regional levels.

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) provides federal money to states, territories, and tribes to subsidize the cost of child care for working families with low incomes. Policies vary widely across jurisdictions, with states, territories, and tribes establishing different policies for: eligibility requirements for families and children; application, waiting list, and redetermination requirements; family copayment policies; and provider requirements and reimbursement rates. This report describes the ways in which policies vary within the context of the federal program requirements and includes dozens of detailed tables showing each state’s/territory’s policy choices.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Child Care and Development Fund subsidy programs scrambled to respond to families’ changing needs. This brief is part of a series to examine state-level policies that shape access to social service and safety net programs, and the ways in which state and federal policy implementation at the local level may affect the reach of program benefits among Latino families. The brief draws from a survey of local child care subsidy staff in North Carolina to explore their perspectives about engaging Hispanic families during the pandemic.

Over 3.2 million North Carolinians are poor or near poor, and many more experience economic instability and challenges over time. This report examines the ways that women in North Carolina are caught in the crosshairs of irreconcilable social and economic demands. Hundreds of thousands of women were forced last year to forgo job opportunities, experienced employment disruptions, or lost a job because of lack of affordable childcare.

Enacted in 1997 and expanded multiple times with bipartisan support since 2001, the Child Tax Credit helps families manage the cost of raising children. The Child Tax Credit lifted 4.3 million people ― including 2.3 million children ― above the poverty line in 2018 and remains an effective tool for reducing poverty nationwide. This fact sheet outlines how the credit is helping families with low incomes, had been administered under the American Rescue Plan, and has reduced poverty and expanded children’s opportunities.

Child care programs operate on razor-thin margins, and the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the sector because of increased service costs, unstable enrollment, and a workforce shortage. Child care stabilization funds provided in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) have served more than 200,000 child care providers, impacting as many as 9.5 million children. Providers are using awards to help with operational costs like wages and benefits, rent and utilities, program materials and supplies, and cleaning and sanitation. The ARP Child Care Stabilization program has been critical to helping child care centers and family child care providers reopen or remain open, preventing more child care staff from leaving the profession, and increasing child care options for working parents. These fact sheets from the Administration for Children and Families are new state-by-state profiles that include the total number of child care providers assisted in each state and territory as of June 30, 2022.

To better understand the impact of the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) on Black, Latinx, and other families of color, and whether it was effectively redressing longstanding and interrelated racial and economic inequities, the Center for the Study of Social Policy conducted a survey in the winter of 2021-2022. This brief summarizes findings from the survey and complements previously published qualitative analysis of the impact of the expanded CTC on families and communities.