Fathers, children, and families benefit when fathers have healthy coparenting and romantic relationships. Given the importance of healthy relationships, many fatherhood programs address coparenting and romantic relationships in programming and aim to improve skills that are applicable across different types of relationships, including communication, conflict management, and emotional self-regulation. For American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) fathers, it is important to consider the diverse cultural traditions, histories, and unique political status of Tribes as sovereign nations. The purpose of this Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief is to provide practice-based, contextually relevant strategies that fatherhood programs serving AIAN fathers can use to support their healthy coparenting and romantic relationships.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway created a five-part podcast series that illustrated ways that states and tribal jurisdictions have supported kinship caregivers. Part 1 of this series featured a group of kinship-centered services and programs from the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families. Topics discussed included:

• Why kinship caregivers should be treated differently by agencies and caseworkers, and the specific challenges kinship caregivers face,
• Strengthening relationships between caseworkers and kinship caregivers,
• The roles and responsibilities of the Rhode Island’s Family Search and Engagement team, and
• Adapting a customer-service approach across the State’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families, and what it means for caseworkers to “manage emotions first.”

This blogpost highlights a new guide from Los Angeles County that describes how community outrage over youth incarceration and overcriminalization led activists and practitioners to transform the way the legal system responds to young people in trouble with the law. The guide tells the story of community collaboration on a plan to systematically steer youth in Los Angeles County away from the legal system at the point of arrest or into community-based services in lieu of formal court processing.

Parents who work outside the home have always faced challenges finding high-quality, affordable child care that meets their needs. But the COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating consequences for the child care industry and parents’ attachment to the labor force. WorkRise, a research-to-action network on jobs, workers, and mobility hosted by the Urban Institute, held a webinar on July 12, 2022, which covered the following questions: What are the long-term implications of child care challenges for workers, families, and the economy? How have these challenges exacerbated labor market inequalities and barriers to upward mobility? What solutions are needed for families and the economy to thrive, and what role should public policy, employer practices, and advocacy play in providing them?

A growing body of research has begun to change understandings of how toxic environments can affect young people, particularly African American boys and young men. The Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin at Madison hosted a webinar on August 17, 2022, during which professors Noni Gaylord-Harden (Texas A&M University), Jocelyn Smith Lee (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), and Alvin Thomas (University of Wisconsin at Madison) spoke about risk and protective factors for youth exposed to poverty, racism, and violence. The speakers also noted how research, policy, and practice can incorporate these lessons. A video recording of the webinar is available for downloading.

This year’s publication describes how children in America are in the midst of a mental health crisis, struggling with anxiety and depression at unprecedented levels. It 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. The report includes pre-pandemic figures as well as more recent statistics, and shares the latest information of its kind available.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Workforce Investment held a webinar on August 11, 2022 to support the workforce system’s understanding of the complex issues around substance use disorder and help them reach and assist individuals and businesses impacted by opioid addiction. Guest speakers from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services shared an overview of "Strategies for Serving Individuals Impacted by Opioid Use Disorder: A Toolkit for Ohio’s Public Workforce System." The Toolkit is designed to guide and support Workforce Boards and workforce development professionals as they implement policies, processes, and services. It is built around the following key pillars of success: Strong Local Partnerships; Holistic Care Management; Steps to Success; Recovery-Friendly Workplaces; and Knowledgeable Staff. Transcripts of the webinar and the Toolkit are available for downloading.

Supporting healthy development begins in early childhood. To support their children and optimize family well-being, parents need access to high-quality early care and education (ECE) services, as well as support for broader family needs, such as nutrition, home visiting, parenting skills, or employment. ACF sponsored the Assessing Models of Coordinated Services (AMCS) study to deepen understanding of programs, groups, agencies, or organizations that coordinate ECE with other health and human services (referred to in this report as coordinated services approaches). This report describes the study’s qualitative data collection, presents models of coordinated services at the state and local level, and reports findings about state and local coordinated services approaches.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has published several resources under Project SPARK and Project IMPROVE. Both projects — conducted in close coordination by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) and the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), respectively — supported 17 research-practice partnerships to help TANF agencies design and implement evidence-informed program changes.

These available publications include the Learn, Innovate, Improve (LI2) practice guide, which outlines LI2, a program improvement approach used by many TANF and human services agencies under Projects SPARK and IMPROVE. Briefs that document the implementation of LI2 feature the Iowa Department of Human Rights (assessing a virtual home visiting program), the New York City Human Resources Administration (redesigning an intake assessment for families receiving cash assistance), and the Baltimore City Health Department (designing and implementing a transitional jobs program).

Also available are briefs on innovative approaches to technology and participant engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic and how to support mental wellness for staff and participants, as well as a podcast about how the pandemic prompted human services agencies to rethink their internal and external operations.

Student loan forgiveness is one way to recognize the important work of the human services workforce and to motivate individuals to join or remain in public service professions. Employees of a federal, state, or local tribal government agency or a non-profit are eligible for federal loan forgiveness after making 120 payments. The 15-year-old U.S. Department of Education’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) has been overhauled to expand eligibility and make it easier to navigate. This important fix allows more federal student loan borrowers to easily access PSLF and obtain the relief the program promised. These changes are time limited. Some borrowers will need to consolidate their federal loans and/or submit a PSLF form by October 31, 2022 to take advantage of this opportunity.

ACF has created the PSLF landing page that includes resources with information on eligibility and tools for getting the word out. The page includes a recording of the March 31 webinar hosted by the Office of Early Childhood Development in partnership with the Department of Education, attended by over 17,000 early educators. This recording, as well as PDFs and Frequently Asked Questions, are also housed on the site.