Accessing affordable child care is a common challenge for parents; it is especially difficult for those with low incomes who need education or training to gain knowledge and skills that can lead to higher paying jobs. Ideally, parents seeking job-related education or training would be able to access child care assistance as part of enrolling in occupational programs, but access varies across states, localities, and training providers. Accessing care for education and training can depend on numerous factors—from local policies and funding to the availability of child care that meets parents…
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Journal Article Communities across the United States, in both urban and rural areas, are seeking ways to promote well-being for their citizens in sustainable ways. This paper provides a descriptive case study of one rural community that used an inquiry-based approach to ask, “How can we engage our citizens to improve child and family well-being in our community?” The group also wondered “What if Brookings had one place for families to access all family resources that support well-being?” “What if all families had a place where their needs were heard?” and “What if all resources for families looked at the…
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Journal Article The Incredible Years (IY) Parent and Child Series are evidence-based interventions that increase knowledge and mastery of parenting, mood regulation, and interpersonal problem solving strategies for caregivers while developing similar social and emotional skills in their children. Rogers, Bobich, and Heppell (2016) use a case study approach to examine the effectiveness of adaptations of the IY program for delivery in a transitional housing shelter. They describe strategies for modifying IY to meet the needs of a vulnerable population within the context of the shelter and the broader welfare…
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Journal Article The commentaries by Williams (2016) and Gartenberg and Lang (2016) on the case of Cathy and her mother Ms. Z (Rogers, Bobich, & Heppell, 2016) explore the similarities between children who have been homeless and those in the foster system, and highlight the importance of trauma-focused treatment to address their mental health needs. A further consideration of the challenges to obtaining such treatment due to system barriers, stigma, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma is applied to the case of Cathy. This illustrates the importance of an array of mental health treatment…
Family Expectations (FE) is a program in Oklahoma City designed to strengthen the relationships of low-income couples who are expecting a baby or have just had a baby. For all families, this period is typically full of promise but also vulnerability. FE is one of eight sites that are participating in a large national evaluation of Building Strong Families (BSF), a federally funded program for unmarried parents. The underlying rationale for BSF is that relationship skills education and family support services provided to unmarried parents in a romantic relationship will help them learn how to…
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Journal Article This issue on fathers was conceived as a rallying cry for all professionals to examine their practices of including fathers in their services. For too long, infant mental health professionals have either ignored fathers' important influences on infants and toddlers or have given lip-service to their importance while allowing the status quo of not including fathers to continue. This article provides history and context for the impetus behind --and the hurdles to--moving from focusing on dyads to family systems, and it highlights a few forward-looking new programs and initiatives already…
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Journal Article Mobile technology presents an exciting opportunity for social workers to reach populations that are typically underserved by interventions and services. We present one application of technology that is particularly relevant to social work practice. The mDad (Mobile Device Assisted Dad) app was developed to augment existing social work practices by providing a father-friendly tool to help new fathers learn about and engage with their infants and toddlers. We discuss the process of developing the app content and conducting usability testing of the mDad app. We conclude with a discussion of the…
The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment offered randomly selected families living in high-poverty housing projects housing vouchers to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods. We present new evidence on the impacts of MTO on children's long-term outcomes using administrative data from tax returns. We find that moving to a lower-poverty neighborhood significantly improves college attendance rates and earnings for children who were young (below age 13) when their families moved. These children also live in better neighborhoods themselves as adults and are less likely to become single parents.…
In this report, the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) examines how to increase the public health approachto child development by looking at national, State and local strategies, policies and programs that have a high impact for improving health and well-being across a range of sectors, and how to better bring those sectors together to develop partnerships that have a better chance of achieving common goals. It begins by reviewing the impact of negative experiences on the physical health and brain development of a child, and the need to reduce risks and build protective factors that help…
This brief highlights themes and action steps drawn from a roundtable on Two-Generational Strategies to Improve Immigrant Family and Child Outcomes, hosted by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, on April 23-24, 2015 in Washington, D.C. The roundtable and this brief come at a critical time, when immigrants and their children are such a significant part of changing American demographics that they are crucial to the nation’s future success: one-quarter of the nation’s young children are children of immigrants. At the same time, important…
