From the National Center for Children in Poverty, this speech by author and policy expert Lisbeth Schorr outlines challenges and opportunities in creating systems change. Schorr offered lessons and recommendation for how to improve service delivery through networking to increase positive outcomes for children and families.

This report summarizes a national conference that took place in Arlington, VA, on March 20-21, 2003. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). This conference brought together substance abuse treatment agency directors and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) administrators from forty States, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands. The conference provided a forum for these policymakers and administrators to share information about their experience and concerns, and their promising strategies used in strengthening the collaboration and partnership of TANF and substance abuse treatment directors.

The purpose of this seminar was to provide State representatives the opportunity to join with Federal partners on identifying and sharing information related to service integration efforts. The conference was centered on peer-to-peer learning among participants.

This paper, from the National Poverty Center, analyzes current housing policy with relation to the recent trends of the low income population becoming decentralized. Authors seek to investigate if this strategy equates to increased economic efficiency by reviewing data from large metropolitan areas across the country.

From the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, this paper provides an overview of methamphetamine, as social workers are seeing an increasing number of children and families affected by meth. Authors present the most current research on methamphetamine, its effects on families, and treatment options available.

As the crime of human trafficking increases in prevalence, magnitude, and scope, trafficking victims who apply for TANF may emerge as a new Hard to Serve/Multi Barrier population for TANF administrators. This study offers a critical resource by assessing the needs of domestic service providers who are working with trafficking victims. Conducted for the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, the research team, led by Dr. Heather J. Clawson, completed a national sample of 98 interviews with domestic service providers.

This issue brief by the Institute for Community Inclusion examines how welfare reform affected Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) caseworkers in Massachusetts and describes the impact of these reforms on the lives of people with disabilities receiving welfare benefits.

This article, through the Institute for Women's Policy Research, examines the prevalence of disabilities among mothers and children in low-income families and the work participation rates among mothers.

This report pertains to The Alternative Kinship Care project, which was funded by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under a contract to the Urban Institute.

This study of Utah's long-term welfare families represents a commitment by the Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS) to understand and document the situations of families as they reach the mandatory three-year lifetime limit for receipt of cash assistance. This study reflects transitions at both societal and individual levels. The long-term welfare recipients described were familiar with, and often dependent on, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Their experiences adjusting to TANF are in some ways unique to their cohort.