The number of children living in multigenerational households has been increasing steadily since the 1980s, and as of 2021, more than 10% of children share a home with two or more generations. About 30% of children will live in a multigenerational or skipped-generation household at some point during their childhood. This is even more common for children of color and for those whose adult family members are low income. The Institute for Research on Poverty will host a virtual session on September 6, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to examine the scope of the issue and its implications for child wellbeing and security, as well as opportunities in policy and practice to support these household members.

The Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) project used an iterative learning approach, or learning cycles, to build evidence on promising practices for increasing participation in fatherhood programs. Fatherhood programs participating in the SIRF study implemented promising approaches to increase fathers’ participation, worked with the study team to assess how the approaches could be strengthened, and applied what they learned from those assessments to the next cycle. Each program tested one of three broad approaches to improving fathers’ enrollment, engagement, and retention in services. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation reflection includes six videos featuring program staff members and mentors describing the SIRF approaches tested and how the participants responded to those approaches.

Safe, reliable childcare has been inaccessible and unaffordable for too many Americans. Disparities between who can and cannot afford childcare reflect structural inequities in the United States. Shift workers, single parents, student parents, and families of color are especially affected by the failings of the childcare system. Inadequacies of the childcare system hinder family economic mobility and perpetuate generational wealth gaps. The 2023 Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS Count® Data Book describes how the country’s lack of affordable and accessible childcare negatively affects children, families, and U.S. businesses. The report presents national and state data across four domains — economic well-being, education, health, and family and community — and ranks states in overall child well-being.

Regardless of their size, agencies and organizations need to demonstrate the success of their kinship programs to their funders and other stakeholders. Showing success requires a strategic approach and an understanding of general principles that support effective data collection and evaluation. The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network will host a webinar on July 17, 2023 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. ET which will explore the foundational principles and strategies to demonstrate success. 

There is an increasing understanding of how poverty can impact children’s development and create persistent gaps between children raised in poverty and their higher-income peers. Early childhood programs do much to support young children by providing a variety of vital services to stabilize families, but stability is tenuous for families living persistently in poverty. Numerous innovative early childhood programs are now focusing on promoting parental economic mobility and working alongside families to build skills and promote their attainment of bigger goals. This EMPath paper presents the importance to early childhood programs, particularly those whose mission is to support children living in poverty, of integrating economic mobility coaching for parents to strengthen outcomes for kids.

More than 2.5 million children currently are being raised by their grandparents and other relatives, both formally through the child welfare system and informally through private family arrangements. When these caregivers take on this responsibility, they often receive little to no financial support or advice regarding how to navigate the many systems that they might need to access to help them meet the needs of the children in their care. Kinship navigator programs help fill that gap by providing caregivers with information, education, and referrals to a wide range of services and supports. This brief provides information about the essential elements of kinship navigator programs, including examples in Richland County (Ohio), Florida, New York, and Georgia, along with evaluation outcomes of these programs.

This discussion guide aims to help those who have viewed the five-part video training series, “Engaging Kinship Caregivers: Managing Risk Factors in Kinship Care.” It is intended to help these viewers expand their learning through group exercises and discussion, and practice the strategies learned through the series. The guide is designed for use with small groups led by program directors, supervisors, and trainers. Individuals can also apply the questions and prompts, either on their own or with a colleague, to deepen their understanding of the concepts.

As the number of kinship caregivers increases for children in foster care and more child welfare jurisdictions adopt a “kin first” placement practice, the need to provide specialized support for relatives is becoming even more crucial. However, with the added complexity of child welfare system involvement, financials stress, and multigenerational loyalty binds, these families deserve assistance from professionals trained to meet their unique needs. The Annie E. Casey Foundation developed and sponsored this five-part set of training modules to strengthen the skills of child welfare professionals in supporting families to improve outcomes for children. The modules are led by Dr. Joseph Crumbley, an internationally renowned kinship trainer and consultant.

This fact sheet describes how grandfamilies and kinship families have unique strengths and face unique challenges. It addresses key questions regarding these types of families, including how many children live in them; what available data show about them; what research shows about their strengths; and what challenges these families face, such as legal, financial (with a table of national averages comparing financial supports for one child, two children, and three children); physical and mental health; housing; and education issues.