Human Services

COVID-19 pandemic’s social restrictions have prompted a surge in the mental health needs of children of all ages. Nationwide 4.3 million children/adolescents have been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of August 2021, and many of them have returned to early childhood and school settings. Schools and early childhood programs have long been essential settings for delivery of mental health services.

In an effort to help build the evidence base around the social determinants of health (SDOH), the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) engaged RAND in a project to evaluate the current evidence from programs and policies targeting SDOH and identify the SDOH research questions, data sources, and data gaps that might be used to develop an SDOH research agenda.

This brief provides a high level overview of the impact of COVID-19 on the development, emotional and behavioral health, social, and economic well-being of children and youth (ages birth to 24).Related Products:

COVID-19 has impacted antimicrobial drug prescribing both directly, through COVID-19 treatment, and indirectly, through the reduced spread of illnesses for which antimicrobial drugs are commonly prescribed.

This brief discusses the perspectives of a group of working parents on receipt of federal benefits. Based on focus groups, it examines program design and implementation, participation barriers, and factors that could help working parents more readily reach financial independence. Highlights are:

In focus group discussions with 44 working parents receiving assistance from one or more federal programs, many parents shared the view that increasing earnings involves a number of risks. Participants described the sequence of possible risk events as follows:

The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) permits states to use title IV-E foster care funding for children placed in foster care with their parent in a licensed residential family-based treatment facility for substance abuse. However, few states currently use this funding, due to barriers such as competing priorities and lack of facilities.

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In accordance with Section 7062(a) of the SUPPORT Act, in 2019 HHS published the first Status Report on Protecting Our Infants Act Implementation Plan, which included activities through August 2018 on the identification, prevention and treatment of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) and opioid use disorder in pregnant women.

Virtual human services delivery has the potential to improve long-standing disparities in service access and outcomes. This brief highlights emerging lessons from the field, identifying considerations for programs to advance equity across all elements of service delivery. Related Products