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.

In recent years, local, state, and federal child support offices started reexamining how their enforcement and collection roles can be paired with services that foster meaningful parental engagement and invest in the social and economic well-being of parents paying child support. In examining child support services, it is important to understand the reach they have throughout federal benefits. Across the continuum of human services programs, rules related to child support can impact whether someone qualifies for benefits, what amount they can receive, or the amount of child support they owe – including but not limited to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, childcare, and child welfare. Often, federal and state policies’ options regarding child support practices are made by individual programs in distinct silos from each other. This American Public Human Services Association resource discusses strategies that can help create the enabling conditions for continued progress in re-centering state and local child support collaborations with other human services program areas.

New York is home to more than one million Latino children, many of whom are eligible for childcare subsidies but do not receive them. This National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families brief draws on a recent study capturing the perspectives of 100 district-level Child Care Assistance Program caseworkers and administrators to determine what Latinx applicants may experience as they seek childcare subsidies in New York through the eyes of the front-line staff who service them.

This Grandfamilies and Kinship Support Network and National Indian Child Welfare Association fact sheet highlights the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (PGST) Kinship Parenting Program. The PGST Kinship Parenting Program provides outreach and support to kin caregivers and their families in Kitsap County, Washington, including helping them identify and connect to services such as childcare, behavioral health, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), TANF non-needy (child-only) grants, assistance with Social Security Income and other paperwork, and much more. Other tribal nations and service providers can utilize the outlined practices as a guide as they develop or modify their own programming that best aligns with their community values, needs, and resources.

This National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families brief draws on a recent survey capturing the perspectives of local Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program staff in Texas to determine possible program-related barriers to and facilitators of subsidy access for Latino families. This brief discusses Latino families’ experiences as they seek childcare subsidies in Texas through the eyes of the front-line staff who service them.

Many low-income working parents rely on subsidized childcare. The program supports qualifying families to work or attend school, many of whom may be unable to afford market-rate childcare. Examining parents’ income and employment patterns can guide policymakers to optimally structure subsidized childcare to support sustained employment and improve program engagement. This Chapin Hall brief series focuses on the work, school, and childcare engagement of Illinois families enrolled in the Child Care Assistance Program. This brief series includes:

1. Parental Need for Child Care Assistance;
2. Where Parents Work; and
3. Earnings & Child Care Assistance After One Year. 

This American Public Human Services Association and Chapin Hall “Evidence to Impact” tool provides examples of state policy options aligned with peer-reviewed research, organized by the policy levers at agencies’ disposal, including macroeconomic supports (Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, minimum wage, paid family leave, employment and job creation), concrete supports (child care, housing, health care, flexible funds, direct cash transfers), and public assistance programs (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children). Used in concert with meaningful policy and practice improvement efforts, this policy tool allows jurisdictions to assess their current policy landscape and consider future opportunities to expand access to economic and concrete supports as a primary prevention strategy.

Programs, organizations, and systems that provide services to address parents' and caregivers' needs (such as education and job-training services, substance use treatment centers, parent education programs, and others) often work exclusively with the adults, while those that serve the needs of children (such as schools and child care centers) often do not focus on advancing the well-being of the caregivers or other adults in their lives. Two-generation (2Gen) approaches bridge this gap by serving children and their families together through integrated and simultaneous services, with a particular focus on helping families achieve lasting financial stability. This Child Welfare Information Gateway brief provides an overview of 2Gen approaches and why child welfare agencies should use them to improve outcomes for the families they serve. The brief also describes the five core 2Gen approaches to help build parental capacity and protective factors within families, often with the explicit goal of interrupting generational cycles of poverty.

The purpose of the Next Steps for Rigorous Research on Two-Generation Approaches (NS2G) project was to build the evidence base for two-generation approaches. Two-generation initiatives combine economic security services for parents with accessible, high quality early care and education for children, and hold promise for improving family well-being. In this recording, co-hosted by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation and Ascend at the Aspen Institute, NS2G team members describe the work that two-generation initiatives conducted to strengthen approaches to intentionally coordinating services for caregivers and their children. Presenters shared tools and techniques that can be used by other two-generation initiatives to strengthen their approaches.