Providing children with high quality early learning and development opportunities in the first years of their lives can have lasting consequences for their health and well-being throughout childhood and into adolescence and adulthood. Research has shown that when children face adversity in their early years, policies and programs that provide children with high quality care and early education can improve outcomes later in life. HHS strives to increase young children’s access to high quality care, promote positive health and development, boost school readiness, and support overall well-being for young children and their families.
Two major HHS programs aim to provide children with access to high quality care and early education opportunities. The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) provides subsidies to working families with young children to help with the costs of child care. The CCDF program aims to promote family economic self-sufficiency, as well as provide children with access to safe, high-quality child care. In Fiscal Year 2013 CCDF served over 1.4 million children. The Head Start program, which includes Early Head Start and Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships, provides high-quality early education and comprehensive services to low-income children ages 0 to 5 and their families, as well as pregnant women. Head Start serves over 1 million low-income children and their families.
ASPE works in close collaboration with HHS offices and other agencies to conduct research and policy analysis that informs these and other early childhood programs and policies. ASPE conducts analysis on a range of important and timely early childhood policy issues and topics, such as paid family leave, parental employment, children experiencing homelessness, infant and early childhood mental health, prevention of preschool expulsion, home visiting, parenting/co-parenting and fatherhood, the early care and education workforce, the cost and price of early care and education, and the early education experiences of dual language learners.
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Reports:
The Multiethnic Placement Act and Transracial Adoption 25 Years Later
The Multiethnic Placement Act, as amended, enacted in 1994 and known as MEPA (or MEPA/IEP to acknowledge amendments passed in 1996), prohibits child welfare agencies that receive federal funding from delaying or denying foster or adoptive placements because of a child or prospective foster or adoptive parent’s race, color or national origin and from using those factors as a basis for denying approval of a potential foster or adoptive parent.
Factsheet: Estimates of Child Care Eligibility and Receipt for Fiscal Year 2017
This factsheet provides descriptive information on child care eligibility and receipt.
Strategies Rural Communities Use to Address Substance Misuse among Families in the Child Welfare System
This research summary and brief describe nine programs and highlight ways they have addressed challenges to serving child welfare-involved parents with substance use issues, with a particular focus on their applicability to rural communities. These programs offered various types of services, including parent mentoring, case management, home visiting, treatment for opioid use disorders, or an array of substance use disorder treatment and family services. These programs implemented strategies that could address challenges in rural and non-rural communities.
Supporting Employment among Lower-Income Mothers: Paid Family Leave and Child Care Arrangements
This is the third ASPE brief about a qualitative study examining lower-income mothers’ attachment to work around the time of childbirth and the role of state paid family leave (PFL) programs in supporting their return to employment. This brief focuses on the role of PFL in facilitating child care arrangements of a sample of mothers. Highlights are:
Early Care and Education Arrangements of Children under Age Five
Children under age five are about as likely to participate in nonparental care arrangements as they were in the mid-1990s. Children in nonparental care are now more likely to participate in center programs and less likely to receive care from family child care providers. Children in families with income both above and below 200 percent of the poverty threshold experienced a decline in family child care. Children are less likely to be in care arrangements that require out-of-pocket financial contributions from their families than they were two decades ago.
Low-Income Workers’ Eligibility for Emergency Paid Family Leave
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 Congress enacted emergency paid family leave (Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA)) for use by parents when their children are unable to attend school or child care due to the crisis. This brief estimates eligibility for the emergency paid family leave program under different participation scenarios, providing information to human services organizations and others about the potential benefits of outreach to lower income parents and their employers about the program.
Employment and Wages in the Child Care Industry: Insight from the Great Recession
The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing child care providers across the country to close. Between February and April 2020, employment in the child care industry dropped by about one third, losing 360,000 jobs. We do not yet know how this will affect the longer-term economic health of this sector. This has implications for the supply, quality, and price of child care for low-income families. This brief examines historical trends in employment and wages, particularly around the 2008 to 2009 recession, which may give us an idea of how this sector may respond to the current crisis.
Availability of Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Areas of High Foster Care Increases
Parental opioid use disorder (OUD) is a risk factor for the maltreatment of children and placement into foster care. Opioid agonist therapy (OAT) is an evidence-based treatment for OUD using medications such as methadone and buprenorphine. OAT can help parents enter recovery and reduce the risk of maltreatment, and potentially improve child welfare outcomes. Child welfare agencies are increasingly looking to connect parents with treatment. However, there are concerns of inadequate supply of OAT providers.
IV-E Prevention Toolkit: Introduction to the Toolkit
This toolkit aims to help states develop a plan for Title IV-E prevention services, and to assist states in planning a comprehensive array of services to help prevent the need for foster care placement (“prevention services”) by braiding Title IV-E prevention services reimbursement with Medicaid and other funding mechanisms.
IV-E Prevention Toolkit: Identifying and Engaging Partners
This toolkit aims to help states develop a plan for Title IV-E prevention services, and to assist states in planning a comprehensive array of services to help prevent the need for foster care placement (“prevention services”) by braiding Title IV-E prevention services reimbursement with Medicaid and other funding mechanisms. This tool, Identifying and Engaging Partners, reviews opportunities for cross-system collaboration and discusses partners and stakeholders who are likely to be helpful during planning. It also includes resources about engaging partners.
IV-E Prevention Toolkit: Assessing population, Service Needs, and Service Coverage
This toolkit aims to help states develop a plan for Title IV-E prevention services, and to assist states in planning a comprehensive array of services to help prevent the need for foster care placement (“prevention services”) by braiding Title IV-E prevention services reimbursement with Medicaid and other funding mechanisms.
IV-E Prevention Toolkit: Determining Priorities, Goals, and Actions
This toolkit aims to help states develop a plan for Title IV-E prevention services, and to assist states in planning a comprehensive array of services to help prevent the need for foster care placement (“prevention services”) by braiding Title IV-E prevention services reimbursement with Medicaid and other funding mechanisms.
IV-E Prevention Toolkit: Understanding Roles of Funding and Decision Points
This toolkit aims to help states develop a plan for Title IV-E prevention services, and to assist states in planning a comprehensive array of services to help prevent the need for foster care placement (“prevention services”) by braiding Title IV-E prevention services reimbursement with Medicaid and other funding mechanisms. This tool, Understanding Roles of Funding and Decision Points, reviews funding mechanisms and key decision points for relevant services.
IV-E Prevention Toolkit: Developing a Plan for Title IV-E Prevention Services
This toolkit aims to help states develop a plan for Title IV-E prevention services, and to assist states in planning a comprehensive array of services to help prevent the need for foster care placement (“prevention services”) by braiding Title IV-E prevention services reimbursement with Medicaid and other funding mechanisms. This tool, Developing a Plan for Title IV-E Prevention Services, reviews how states can translate information from earlier parts of this toolkit into developing a Title IV-E prevention program plan.
IV-E Prevention Toolkit: Appendices
This toolkit aims to help states develop a plan for Title IV-E prevention services, and to assist states in planning a comprehensive array of services to help prevent the need for foster care placement (“prevention services”) by braiding Title IV-E prevention services reimbursement with Medicaid and other funding mechanisms.
Challenges in Providing Substance Use Disorder Treatment to Child Welfare Clients in Rural Communities
This brief summarizes the challenges involved in serving rural child welfare-involved families with substance use issues. We highlight differences between rural and non-rural areas and discuss strategies that could help alleviate difficulties in addressing child welfare cases in rural communities. Key findings include:
The Cost of Subsidized Child Care: 2005-2016
This research brief presents findings using national data from child care subsidy administrative records that states submit to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The analysis shows that a greater percentage of subsidized care occurred in licensed child care centers in FY 2016 than in FY 2005.
Factsheet: Estimates of Child Care Eligibility & Receipt for Fiscal Year 2016
This factsheet provides descriptive information on child care eligibility and receipt. Of the 13.3 million children eligible for child care subsidies under federal rules, 15 percent received subsidies. Of the 8.5 million children eligible for child care subsidies under state rules, 24 percent received subsidies. Poorer children were more likely to receive subsidies than less poor children. Younger children (ages 1-5) were more likely to receive subsidies than older children.
Supporting Employment Among Lower-Income Mothers: The Role of Paid Family Leave
This is the second of two ASPE briefs about a qualitative study of lower-income mothers' attachment to work around childbirth and the role of state paid family leave (PFL) programs. The mothers, especially those with the fewest family resources, described PFL as supporting their return to employment, providing them with subsidized time to prepare for work and allowing some mothers to take more leave than they could have afforded without PFL. Other mothers said it kept them from quitting work altogether.
Supporting Employment Among Lower-Income Mothers: Attachment to Work After Childbirth
This is the first of two briefs about a qualitative study examining lower-income mothers' attachment to work around the time of childbirth and the role of state paid family leave (PFL) programs in supporting their return to employment. Seventy-five mothers who used PFL participated in the study. Over two-thirds returned to work, citing their need for income, desire for financial independence, preference for combining work with caregiving, and supportive workplace practices.
Expanding Access to Family-Centered Medication-Assisted Treatment Issue Brief
This Issue Brief represents the finding of a white paper prepared by RTI under funding from ASPE. The analysis included a programs scan of policy initiatives in 21 states and individual interviews with academics, federal experts, state officials and individual providers.
State Policy Levers for Expanding Family-Centered Medication-Assisted Treatment
Many women facing opioid addiction are either pregnant or caring for children and face a number of social, structural and economic barrier in accessing treatment. In recent years, clinicians and policymakers have become increasingly interested in supporting substance use treatment approaches that provide comprehensive services to pregnant and parenting women and their family members and recognized the women’s role as primary caregivers.
Expanding Access to Family-Centered Medication-Assisted Treatment Issue Brief
Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (5 PDF pages) ABSTRACT This Issue Brief represents the finding of a white paper prepared by RTI under funding from ASPE. The analysis included a programs scan of policy initiatives in 21 states and individual interviews with academics, federal experts, state officials and individual providers.
State Policy Levers for Expanding Family-Centered Medication-Assisted Treatment
Julie Seibert, PhD, Holly Stockdale, MA, Rose Feinberg, MA, Erin Dobbins, MA, Elysha Theis, BA, and Sarita L. Karon, PhD RTI International Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (55 PDF pages)