Research shows that children who must be separated from their birth parents fare better when placed in the care of relatives as opposed to non-relatives. This finding is becoming particularly important as the number of foster children increases due to the opioid crisis, and relatives like grandparents increasingly shoulder the responsibility of care for these children. Generations United offers a report with data on the opioid crisis as it pertains to grandfamilies, and also lists policy and program recommendations to help stakeholders in the field. Besides prioritizing placement of foster children with relatives, the report recommends fully using services established under the Family First Prevention Services Act and the National Family Caregiver Support Program, providing legal and foster parent licensing assistance, helping grandfamilies attain funding and support, and creating a National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies.

This 20-minute podcast mediated by National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families Project Director Robyn Cenizal and former Colorado Human Services Provider Mary Roberto discusses Ms. Roberto’s previous role and experience, family violence options, and the importance of outreach for survivors and the community. The podcast serves as a proactive resource for programs when expanding their outreach and building educational resources for the community on family violence.

This journal article presents findings from a longitudinal study which examined the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV), five mental disorders (depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, panic attack, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]), alcohol abuse/dependence, drug abuse/dependence, treatment seeking (from physician, counselor, and self-help group), employment, child support, and welfare participation. Drawn from records extracted from the study "Violence Against Women and the Role of Welfare Reform" (VAWRWR), a key finding was that experiencing controlling behaviors reduced likelihood of welfare participation, while experiencing physical abuse increased it. Panic attack, drug abuse/dependence, and employment wielded significant impact on welfare participation rates; treatment seeking and child support made no significant impact on welfare rates.

This article features a nationally representative study of safe, stable, nurturing relationships among children and youth in the United States ages 1 month to 17 years. Researchers discovered that almost 1 in 4 children and adolescents resided in family environments with just modest levels of safety, stability, and nurturance, while approximately 1 in 15 experienced consistently low levels of these factors. Lack of safe, stable, nurturing relationships seems to most strongly affect older adolescents and children in nontraditional family structures and appear to have critical implications for future functioning of these youth. The article includes a discussion of the associations among the indicators of safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and their implications for policy and practice.

This Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation report is the result of a literature review, a listening session, and individual conversations with stakeholders about the growing need for healthcare workers and the unnecessary hiring restrictions against people with criminal backgrounds. There are five things to consider in this area: some individuals with criminal records are qualified to satisfy the growing healthcare demand; effective screening methods are already being used throughout the country; certain occupations like Emergency Medical Technicians have already been filled by the previously incarcerated; federal and state governments and communities are trying to lower unnecessary barriers to entry into the healthcare sector; and those with criminal records can strengthen the healthcare workforce if properly screened. Examples of programs, state initiatives, and screening criteria are listed in the report to inform future policies and practices.

The Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) assembled a comprehensive list of practical materials for stakeholders helping the unsheltered homeless. Their suite of resources focuses on data and analytics, policies and practices, agency coordination, and communications and includes provider tools, draft policies, and system templates that can be freely used and adapted to fit the needs of local providers. CSH also encourages feedback from users on the efficacy, lessons, and adaptions of its toolkit to understand best practices in the field and to increase the effectiveness of future resources.

The National Governors Association (NGA) produced a white paper to outline the challenges persons with disabilities face entering and maintaining employment. Drawn from NGA’s participation in the State Exchange on Employment and Disability (SEED) initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Labor, the white paper also includes strategies as a result of a learning lab in May 2018. Strategies reflect four priority areas: preparing people with disabilities for careers; supporting and retaining employees with disabilities; engaging employers in education and training; and coordinating services and supports across state agencies.

To learn how parents prefer to receive information on early childhood development and parenting, Child Trends conducted diverse focus groups of first-time parents and then created a research-to-practice brief. The brief highlights five points the parents raised about their information-seeking preferences and behavior and the link between what parents know about parenting and child development and their behavior with their children. The study found that parents desired high-quality knowledge on early childhood development and parenting skills, and it noted their clear preferences on how they wanted to receive this information.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection is continuing its Youth Employment Success (YES) initiative with a new 2019 cohort. This program aims to improve financial literacy for youth in job readiness programs and is looking for five new programs across the country that are interested in creating and testing tools to help youth better understand their finances. Ultimately, the program goal is to improve socioeconomic self-sufficiency and employment outcomes in youth job programs, as well as develop sustainable tools to serve youth across the country. If selected, the programs will receive access to new tools developed by the Bureau and will also be able to evaluate and make suggestions on the tools. Selection criteria include mission alignment, organizational capacity, target population, willingness to share feedback, and relationships with similar programs. If you think your program and participants would benefit from a tool and training to improve young adult finances, email empowerment@cfpb.gov with a Letter of Interest by November 26, 2018. Other resources for Youth Employment Programs can be found at https://www.consumerfinance.gov/practitioner-resources/resources-youth-employment-programs/.

The 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health found that 19 percent of children under the age of 17 are “children and youth with special health needs.” These children and their families require a broad set of supports to meet their respective health, social, educational, and other needs. This Child Trends report identifies a framework to support these families’ navigation across different support systems to coordinate and be eligible for resources provided under the Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant (Title V), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Supplemental Security Income programs.