The third bi-annual Aspen Forum on Children and Families will be held on June 7, 2021 and June 8, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET on both days. This virtual forum includes panel discussions, keynote speakers, and breakout sessions covering two-generation (2Gen) approaches as well as resources and tools needed to strengthen families, communities, and the country. The Forum also features the release of The State of 2Gen, which synthesizes 10 years of the field's accomplishments and identifies policy recommendations to support families with improved health, education, and employment outcomes.

As grandfamily caregivers assume the role of caretaker for their grandchildren, these grandfamilies experience unique challenges and strengths. Challenges include legal issues, financial hardships, and housing concerns, while strengths include research that shows children placed with relatives often thrive compared to those placed in foster care.

The 2020 State of Grandfamilies in America annual report features information on connecting grandfamilies to critical supports during the COVID-19 crisis and creating systems to promote service continuity. The included infographic displays the percentage of grandparents responsible for grandchildren, racial overrepresentation in grandfamilies, and COVID-19 challenges facing grandfamilies. An accompanying webinar highlights factors that may contribute to the creation of grandfamilies and discusses their challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This organizations list from the Children’s Bureau’s Child Welfare Information Gateway provides contact information and website links to kinship care programs and services offered by State child welfare departments, subcontracted private nonprofit agencies, and some Tribes in applicable States and the District of Columbia.

This webinar discusses new federal investments in kinship navigator programs, grandfamilies housing, and relevant child welfare programs that can help grandfamilies. It highlights how funds can be utilized to assist families in critical areas during the pandemic, such as housing, lawyer fees, transportation, technology, food, and emergency support for older youth aging out of foster care.

This bulletin from the Children’s Bureau’s Child Welfare Information Gateway highlights supports and services for kinship caregivers, training for caregivers and case workers, and examples of successful State and local kinship programs. It discusses kinship navigator programs and features support services that caseworkers should share with kinship caregivers, including TANF, respite care, and the Guardianship Assistance Program.

This report covers the results of a study completed by the United States Government Accountability Office on challenges facing grandparents and other older kin becoming primary caregivers. The report examines the numbers of grandparents and other kin serving as primary caregivers for children and reasons for that care. It also notes challenges kinship caregivers face and how they are addressed, and the extent to which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services supports states’ efforts to use relevant programs and initiatives. The report highlights kinship care in four selected communities in New Mexico, New York, Mississippi, and Ohio.

Home visiting programs support parents with education, referrals for community-based services, and goal setting. These programs yield positive impacts such as reduced child maltreatment, better child and maternal health, increased school readiness, and enhanced family economic self-sufficiency. This blogpost includes questions and answers from senior New Jersey officials on the design and implementation of their home visiting programs. Key questions include: How has your approach to home visiting evolved over the years? How were you able to scale up these programs to offer them statewide? What advice would you give to another jurisdiction that wants to develop a home visiting program or network?

Recovery coaching, which helps parents increase access to and engage in substance misuse treatment, has grown since its initial use in the late 1990s. This Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation report features interventions in the child welfare system that include recovery coaches and assesses them for their readiness for replication. The report identifies nine eligible interventions for potential replication under the first phase of the Expanding Evidence on Replicable Recovery and Reunification Interventions for Families (R3) project.

This podcast presents trends and reasons for declining labor force participation among working women, particularly those who are mothers, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The podcast also reviews the ways mothers have previously been supported so they could enter the labor force and how the lack of supports for working parents during the pandemic could reverse earlier gains made by women. The podcast is hosted by Kathryn Anne Edwards of the RAND Corporation.