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Office of Human Services Policy (HSP)

The Office of Human Services Policy (HSP) strives to improve the well-being of children, youth, and families and break down silos across government. It does so by providing timely, actionable, cross-cutting policy analysis and research, and by leading cross-government coordination to address urgent human services challenges. The office works closely with federal, state, local, and private sector partners on issues including economic mobility and employment, child poverty and well-being, child welfare, family strengthening and fatherhood, early childhood education, youth development, community initiatives, child support, recidivism, and homelessness.

HSP advises the ASPE and other HHS leadership on human services policy matters. It leads and actively participates in interagency initiatives to align federal programming; conducts policy analysis and other research on human services and related issues; shares findings with and provides technical assistance to a diverse range of stakeholders; and coordinates development of HHS’s human services legislative proposals. HSP serves as a liaison with other agencies on broad economic matters and is the Department’s lead on poverty measurement.

The Office of Human Services Policy has three divisions:

  • The Division of Children and Youth Policy focuses on policies related to the well-being of children and youth, including early childhood education and child welfare, and leads the Children’s Interagency Coordinating Council and the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs.
  • The Division of Family and Community Policy covers policies to strengthen low-income families and communities and address barriers to economic mobility. The division leads the Interagency Council on Economic Mobility.
  • The Division of Data and Technical Analysis provides data analytic capacity for policy development through data collection activities, secondary data analysis, modeling, and cost analyses. The Division also issues annual updates to the poverty guidelines and reports to Congress on indicators of welfare dependence.

Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy: Jennifer Burnszynski

Reports

Displaying 151 - 160 of 965. 10 per page. Page 16.

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The Relationship between Substance Use Indicators and Child Welfare Caseloads

This research brief describes how select indicators associated with substance use prevalence relate to the changing trend in child welfare caseloads. It is part of a series describing findings of a mixed methods study undertaken to better understand how parental substance use relates to child welfare caseloads, which began rising in 2012 following years of sustained declines.

Providing TA to Local Programs and Communities: Lessons from a Scan of Initiatives Offering TA to Human Services Programs

This scan of public and private technical assistance (TA) initiatives synthesizes lessons, challenges, and best practices for providing federal TA to human services programs working to address poverty and child well-being. The scan, encompassing 18 TA initiatives, is intended to inform decisions about how best to target TA efforts for different situations, audiences, and objectives.

Executive Summary and Screening Tools: Pretesting A Human Trafficking Screening Tool in the Child Welfare and Runaway and Homeless Youth Systems

This executive summary provides key takeaways from a longer report to a study that developed and pre-tested a Human Trafficking Screening Tool (HTST) with youth in runaway and homeless youth and child welfare settings. This document also includes both the full, 19-item HTST and a shorter, 6-question form of the tool.

Psychotropic Medication Use among Children who Are Subjects of Child Protective Services Investigations: Does Court Oversight Matter?

This ASPE Research Brief examines the courts’ role in overseeing psychotropic medication prescriptions for children who were subjects of child maltreatment investigations.

Parental Incarceration and Children in Nonparental Care

This ASPE Research Brief describes the number and characteristics of children who in 2011 or 2012 lived with someone other than their parents and who had experienced the incarceration of a parent or guardian.

Patterns of Foster Care Placement and Family Reunification Following Child Maltreatment Investigations

This research brief identifies characteristics of children and families who reunified with parents or family following the child’s stay in foster care, patterns regarding success or failure of reunification, as well as maltreatment re-reports among children reunified with their families.

National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Progress Report for Years 1 and 2

Antibiotic resistance (AR) poses a significant threat to our Nation’s public health. To coordinate and enhance the public health response to the AR threat, the U.S. Government developed the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (CARB). The CARB Task Force is co-chaired by HHS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Head Start Children and Families Experiencing Homelessness: Trends, Characteristics, and Program Services

This research brief presents findings on the characteristics of Head Start children and families that experienced homelessness, as well as services Head Start programs reported providing to these vulnerable children and families, using data from the 2009 cohort of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey.

Factsheet: Estimates of Child Care Eligibility and Receipt for Fiscal Year 2013

This factsheet provides descriptive information on child care eligibility and receipt. Of the 13.4 million children eligible for child care subsidies under federal rules, 16 percent received subsidies. Of the 8.3 million children eligible for child care subsidies under state rules, 26 percent received subsidies. Poorer children were more likely to receive subsidies than less poor children.

Health Plan Choice and Premiums in the 2018 Federal Health Insurance Exchange

This issue brief presents analysis of Qualified Health Plan (QHP) data in the individual market Exchanges for plan year 2018 for states that use the HealthCare.gov platform.  It examines issuer participation, plan options and premiums for individuals enrolling in coverage through the Exchanges.