America's children and their families are showing greater resilience and support in the face of rising poverty that has now wiped out the historic financial gains of the 1990s, according to the Foundation for Child Development's annual child well-being index. The New York City-based group announced that overall child well-being is up more than five percent both from 2001 and the index's beginning a generation ago, in 1975. The index is a composite of 28 indicators of both children's environmental and economic environments and their own behaviors.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) released a research brief from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) entitled "Instability and Early Life Changes among Children in the Child Welfare System." This is one in a series of briefs based on data from NSCAW, a nationally representative, longitudinal survey focusing on children who come to the attention of the child welfare system through investigation by child protective services. The survey is being conducted through a contract to RTI. The brief describes the placement histories and changes in living situations of infants who come to the attention of Child Protective Services.

In recent years, a significant change in the TANF caseload is the growth, proportionally speaking, of child-only cases. Child-only cases are typically defined as those TANF cases in which no adult recipient is included in the TANF cash grant. Child-only cases are classified as either parental or non-parental. Parental child-only cases are those cases in which a parent is present in the household, but is ineligible for TANF receipt due to a sanction, time limit, SSI receipt or alien status. Non-parental cases are those cases in which no parent is present; the children are residing with a relative or other adult with legal guardianship or custody. A small number of cases are in child-only status for unique reasons. (author abstract)

Almost half of TANF cases are "child-only" in which no adult is included in the benefit calculation. In about 4 out of 10 these cases, the children live with relatives or nonrelatives instead of their parents. The other 6 in 10 cases include parents not eligible for benefits because they receive federal disability payments, are sanctioned for failure to comply with some TANF regulation, exceeded their time limit, or they are undocumented immigrants. This brief reviews the available research on child-only cases, including how cases arise, their characteristics, the children's well-being, and implications for policy and research. (author abstract)

According to the Census Bureau, 7.8 million children lived with at least one grandparent in 2009, a 64 percent increase since 1991. The data was collected in 2009 as part of the household relationship module of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. The Survey of Income and Program Participation is a longitudinal panel survey of demographic information, income, labor force characteristics, and program participation in the United States with supplemental topics on child well-being, child care, and household relationships. Census demographers note that the living arrangements of children in the United States is an important indicator of child well-being.

This overview of kinship families is from the Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. Researchers were interested in differences among kinship families in terms of family structure and household composition. Using data from a web-based study in Illinois, researchers conducted latent class analysis to develop a typology of kinship foster families based on indicators of family structure and household composition.

The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation conducted this study to better understand the characteristics and participation of American Indians and Alaska Natives in State and Tribal TANF programs over time. Researchers conducted comparisons between Tribal and non-Tribal caseloads across State TANF programs.

This manual was produced as a collaborative effort of the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC), the National Foster Parent Association (NFPA), and the Collaboration to AdoptUsKids. It was produced with funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau. This is a comprehensive guide, covering everything needed to create and manage a respite program. The first three sections outline step-by-step guidelines for designing and implementing respite services: Exploring the Benefits of Respite, Exploring Respite Options, and Developing Your Respite Program. The final section, Forms, contains a large array of sample documents which may be freely adapted to meet the needs of local programs. The forms available include Respite Billing, Emergency Service Authorization, Parent Checklist, Event Evaluation, Respite Provider Agreement, and others.