This set of briefs, organized by region and all 50 states and the District of Columbia, uses Census Household Pulse survey data to illustrate Child Tax Credit (CTC) receipt, payment usage, and changes in food security for families after the CTC payment was received. The survey was conducted between July 21 and August 16, 2021 when the first two CTC payments were deposited into families’ bank accounts.

The demand for licensed early care and education (ECE) providers exceeds the number of available licensed ECE slots in Detroit’s lower-income communities. As a result, some families opt for informal child care, which is unlicensed care provided by family, friends, or neighbors. This brief features findings and lessons learned from an evaluation of an initiative designed to enhance informal child care and to improve outcomes for children with access to high quality ECE in home-based settings. The evaluation examines the strengths, limitations, and needs of informal child care providers in southwest Detroit and suggests ways to strengthen resources as well as supports available to informal child care providers.

Supportive services are one of 14 program elements of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) youth program that enable individuals to participate in WIOA activities. This first set of resources on providing supportive services to youth includes information on: Supportive Services Guides and Locators; the TANF Program and state contacts; the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and State CCDF contacts; the State Child Support Enforcement Program; guidance and support for individuals with disabilities; the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; the Foster Care to Success Education Training Voucher Program; and health, mental health, and substance abuse resources.

This brief presents comparative state data that estimates potential demand for child care for families who work nontraditional hours (NTH) — on weekends and anytime outside 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. Tables in the brief compare the share of children under 6 with NTH working families, children with NTH low-income parents, Black and Latino children with NTH working parents, children with NTH working parents with educational attainment at or below a high school diploma, and children with an NTH working single parent. The brief also includes a chart of state planned activities to increase the supply of NTH child care.

To improve understanding of ways to coordinate early care and education (ECE) with other health and human services, the Administration for Children and Families sponsored the Assessing Models of Coordinated Services (AMCS) project. This report shares findings of current state and local coordinated services approaches. States and localities interested in developing or continuing a coordinated services approach for families may not have access to information about the characteristics of such approaches; AMCS intends for this overview to begin to fill that gap.

The Office of Family Assistance published this Dear Colleague Letter to address how states may use TANF funds to expand educational choice and support families who choose educational alternatives to governmental entities, including private and faith-based options. State agencies and other interested parties may find it helpful to review prior guidance, TANF-ACF-PI-2005-01, which provided information about when and how federal TANF and state maintenance-of-effort funds may be used for early childhood education, school readiness, kindergarten, and other public education programs. 

Maternal and infant health is an urgent priority, and a coordinated effort across health and human services is crucial to foster positive maternal health outcomes. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is responsible for many programs that support maternal and infant health, including home visiting, Head Start, childcare, Medicaid, TANF, child support, and others. ACF released this Dear Colleague Letter to assist human services providers in understanding their important role in addressing the syphilis epidemic by raising awareness and helping to facilitate access to early testing and treatment. Staff at human services agencies have a unique opportunity to intervene and help protect the health of pregnant women and babies by educating clients on the risks and encouraging early and regular prenatal care, including testing and treatment when necessary.

The Office in Planning, Research and Evaluation released eight infographics, which describe the experiences of families with children enrolled in Head Start FACES programs during the 2021-2022 program year, with a focus on how the COVID-19 pandemic played a role in family health and well-being. The data in the infographics provide a window into the experiences of a sample of Head Start parents who were able to respond to the survey during this time.

This Office on Trafficking in Persons fact sheet provides an overview of community resources and highlights programs assisting with job training, food, energy bills, housing, childcare, and recovery services for those affected by trafficking. Support for disaster recovery and access to social services such as substance use treatment and mental health care are also included.

Black and Hispanic individuals, as well as those with lower incomes, had fewer resources with which to respond to sudden and prolonged childcare disruptions due to the nature of their employment. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report describes rates of childcare disruptions and employment-related responses from July 2021 to May 2022 for households with children under age 5, both overall and by five household characteristics: race/ethnicity, household income, the number of adults in the household, employment status, and telework status. Responses to childcare disruptions included losing pay, taking paid leave, not working or not searching for a job, and supervising children while working.