Every parent has hopes and dreams for their child, even if those dreams aren’t always openly expressed. When parents have a child with a disability, goals might need to be modified. This doesn’t mean expecting less of your child, but it may mean expecting something different than what you had envisioned. It’s important to understand the critical influence of having “high expectations” for your child. You need to instill those expectations in your youth and advocate for those expectations throughout the public school elementary and secondary transition process. (Author Abstract)
Brief
The decline in fathers’ employment during the Great Recession may have created conditions where families forego paid child care and instead rely on fathers to care for children not only to save money, but also because these fathers now have fewer work commitments. This brief adds to our understanding about men’s changing roles that resulted from their job losses during the Great Recession. (Author abstract)
This policy brief from the Center for Poverty Research at UC Davis highlights new research that demonstrates a connection between a parent being employed or receiving cash assistance and a higher likelihood of the parent(s) being reunified with their children after a child welfare interaction. It provides examples of how a parent may become economically disconnected once their child is removed and how this can significantly impact the chance of reunification. Suggestions for further supporting vulnerable families are given.
Child Support programs and courts across the country are connecting noncustodial parents to job services as an alternative to jail, which has achieved promising results. Job services are effectively helping parents find work, stay employed, pay child support, and avoid crime - at relatively little cost. This comparative infographic, "Jobs Not Jail", contrasts the impactful cost and benefit differences between the two. It displays how work-oriented services are successfully leveraging and achieving compliance from noncustodial parents who were once unemployed or underemployed. (Author abstract)
The first evaluation report of OCSE's Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED) documents CSPED's planning year and first year of implementation, offering insights into recruitment, engagement, collaborative partnerships, and service delivery strategies for anyone thinking about or actually implementing employment programs for noncustodial parents who are unable to pay their child support. (Author abstract modified)
Teaching your children about financial responsibility is one of the most important lifelong lessons you can give–and one that may not be effectively taught in school. This tip sheet offers suggestions to consider to improve the financial savvy of your kids. (Author abstract modified)
As America recovers from the Great Recession, many of our fellow citizens remain mired in poverty. Economic trends, cultural changes, and changes in family and marriage patterns are combining in new ways that make it harder for those born on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder to lift themselves up. One ray of hope is that Republicans and Democrats are increasingly talking about the intertwined problems of poverty and opportunity. Experts on both sides of the political aisle understand that poverty is changing, and policy responses must change, too. This comprehensive report is the result…
This report explores the intergenerational effects of criminal records through five pillars of family well-being. The five pillars include: the impact of criminal records on income and the major obstacles parents with criminal records face in securing employment and receiving public assistance; the impact of mounting criminal justice debts and unaffordable child support arrears on families’ ability to save for the future; the impact on education, including the barriers parents with criminal records face to education and training opportunities that would increase their chances of findings well…
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Journal Article Two-generation programs provide education and training services for parents while their children attend early childhood education programs. This study examines the rates of persistence and certification of parents in one of the only two-generation interventions in the country under study, CareerAdvance®, which offers training in the healthcare sector to parents while their children attend Head Start (n = 92). Results indicate that 16 months after enrolling in CareerAdvance®, 76% of participants attained at least one workforce-applicable certificate of the program and 59% were still in the…
In this testimony before the District of Columbia City Council on adult literacy programs, Caroline Ratcliffe shares her findings on childhood poverty, how it relates to adult success, and the importance of parents’ educational attainment. (Author abstract)
