Family Well-Being

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been working with researchers, human services agency leaders, and persons with lived experience to visualize, describe, and document models of prevention within human services.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks to understand efforts to promote child and family well-being in jurisdictions across the country.

This brief summarizes focus groups and interviews with individuals who receive support through human services programs and federal benefits. These conversations explored participants’ feelings about well-being, including what it means to them and how the support they received through federal benefits and local human services programs influenced their well-being.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been working with researchers, human services agency leaders, and persons with lived experience to visualize, describe, and document models of prevention within human services.

This brief summarizes an expert convening focused on the child support program’s current ability and future potential to help address child poverty.Key Findings

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been working with researchers, human services agency leaders, and persons with lived experience to visualize, describe, and document models of primary prevention within human services.

This one-pager describes the research questions and objectives of a project exploring the use of custody relinquishment, or when children enter foster care primarily to obtain behavioral health or disability services.

This two-pager describes several child welfare and Medicaid data linking projects and lessons learned from those projects. For example, the brief highlights key lessons such as the value in providing states with support in navigating data governance and in strengthening and harmonizing data infrastructure on child welfare service.

The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-432) requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare an annual report to Congress on indicators and predictors of “welfare dependence.” That Act requires the report to include three programs: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (which replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)

As part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Congress provided HHS with funding for the Children’s Interagency Coordinating Council (CICC). The CICC is charged with fostering greater coordination and transparency on child policy across federal agencies and examining a broad array of cross-cutting issues affecting child poverty and child well-being.