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Office of Human Services Policy (HSP)

The Office of Human Services Policy (HSP) conducts policy research, analysis, evaluation, and coordination on various issues across the Department, including but not limited to, poverty and measurement, vulnerable populations, early childhood education and child welfare, family strengthening, economic support for families, and youth development. HSP serves as a liaison with other agencies on broad economic matters and is the Department’s lead on poverty research and analysis.

The Division of Children and Youth Policy focuses on policies related to the well-being of children and youth. Projects range from quick-turnaround policy analyses to large-scale experimental studies, and major policy initiatives. Key areas include early childhood, early care and education, home visiting, youth development and risky behaviors, parenting and family support, child welfare and foster care, linkages with physical and mental health, methods for evaluating what works, and strategies for improving research and data in these areas.

The Division of Family and Community Policy focuses on policies affecting various low-income populations. This includes policy development around major initiatives such as homelessness and reentry. It also includes conducting and coordinating analysis, research, and evaluation on the safety net, economic mobility and opportunity, welfare-to-work issues, strengthening families and responsible fatherhood, child support enforcement, and domestic violence. Other key priorities include place-based initiatives, the role of social capital in human services, human trafficking, benefits coordination.

The Division of Data and Technical Analysis focuses on policies and programs concerning low-income and otherwise disadvantaged populations. The Division provides data analytic capacity for policy development through data collection activities, secondary data analysis, modeling, and cost analyses. The Division focuses on cross-cutting human services policy issues such as income, poverty, cash and non-cash supports for low-income families, employment, fertility, and child welfare. The Division also issues annual updates to the poverty guidelines and reports to Congress on indicators of welfare dependence.

Topic Areas:

Reports

Displaying 11 - 20 of 964. 10 per page. Page 2.

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Fact Sheet

Exploration of Child Welfare Systems’ Experiences with Custody Relinquishment

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.
Fact Sheet

Improving Services for Children and Families through Linked Child Welfare and Medicaid Data

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.
Research Brief

Behavioral Health Treatment by Service Type and Race and Ethnicity for Children and Youth Involved with the Child Welfare System

Children and youth involved with the child welfare system frequently have behavioral health conditions and are high users of behavioral health services compared to children and youth in other Medicaid eligibility categories.
Report to Congress, Visualization

Welfare Indicators and Risk Factors: 23rd Report to Congress

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)
Guide

Measuring Success in Advancing Equity

Health and human services policies and programs have wide-ranging effects on individuals and communities which can facilitate optimal health and well-being or impose harm, particularly for historically underserved communities.
Report

The Fiscal Impact of Refugees and Asylees at the Federal, State, and Local Levels from 2005-2019

Between 1990 and 2022, the United States welcomed over 2.1 million refugees and accepted over 800,000 asylees. While the purpose of granting visas to refugees and asylees is humanitarian, they do impact the United States economically. This analysis estimates the fiscal impact of refugees and asylees on federal, state, and local governments from 2005 to 2019.
ASPE Data Point

Estimates of Child Care Eligibility & Receipt for Fiscal Year 2020

Key Points
Report to Congress

Children’s Interagency Coordinating Council FY 2023 Report to Congress

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.
Research Brief

Child Care Workers’ Experience of Economic Hardship During the COVID-19 Pandemic, from 2021 to 2022

This brief shares findings from an analysis using U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey data to examine child care workers’ experience of economic hardship from 2021 to 2022 along different measures of economic hardship, across time, by race and ethnicity, and whether child care workers lived with young children. We find:
ASPE Issue Brief

Child Support Engagement in Rural and Non-Rural Counties: More Engagement and Lower Amount Owed in Rural Areas

This brief describes differences in engagement in child support for custodial parents living in rural and nonrural areas. Key findings are below.Key Points: