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.
Division of Children and Youth Policy
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.
Division of Economic Support for Families
The Division of Economic Support for Families 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 support and opportunity, welfare-to-work issues, strengthening families and responsible fatherhood, child support enforcement, and domestic violence. Other key priorities include place-based initiatives, immigration and refugees, human trafficking, benefits access, and various human services programs.
Division of Data and Technical Analysis
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:
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+Early Childhood and Child Welfare
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+Economic Support Mobility and Employment
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+Family Strengthening
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+Place-Based Initiatives and Community/Faith-Based Partnerships
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+Social Services Delivery and Implementation
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+Vulnerable Populations
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+Youth
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+Poverty and Measurement
VIEW REPORTS:
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.
Reducing Recidivism and Improving Reentry through Economic Impact Payments during COVID-19
Economic Impact Payments under the CARES Act can increase economic independence and labor force attachment among individuals reentering from incarceration through helping cover basic expenses while individuals seek employment and get on their feet. However, while many reentering individuals may be eligible for an Economic Impact Payment, they may need additional assistance to ensure they receive one.
A Compendium of Administrative and Survey Data Resources in the Administration for Children and Families
This compendium is an effort to understand and document the data collected by ACF that is or could be used for evidence-building purposes. It includes summaries of twelve major ACF administrative data sources and seven surveys.
Facilitating Low-Income Families’ Use of Emergency Paid Family Leave: Considerations for Human Services Agencies in Supporting Workers and Their Employers
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 Congress enacted emergency paid family leave (Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act) as well as emergency paid sick leave. This brief suggests lessons for facilitating the use of emergency paid family leave by lower-income families, drawing on research by ASPE on families’ participation in state paid family leave programs.
Virtual Case Management Considerations and Resources for Human Services Programs
By Annette Waters, Pamela Winston, and Robin Ghertner April 1, 2020
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.
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.
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.
An Examination of the Use and Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement Tools in Six States
Child support programs use various strategies called “enforcement tools” to collect critical monetary support for custodial families from noncustodial parents. The enforcement of child support is intended to encourage parental responsibility so that children receive financial, emotional, and medical support from both parents, even when they live in separate households.
2018 HHS Health and Human Trafficking Symposium—Takeaways and Next Steps
This report details takeaways and next steps from the HHS Health and Human Trafficking Symposium on November 28–29, 2018. The event was a 10-year followup to HHS’s 2008 National Symposium on the Health Needs of Human Trafficking Victims, which set an agenda for the past decade of research, policy, and practice at the intersection of health and human trafficking.
Illicit Substance Use and Child Support: An Exploratory Study
While child support agencies have acknowledged the rise in substance use among noncustodial parents, there is little to no research that has looked specifically at this population with substance use issues and the effects of that use on child support outcomes, including payment patterns and arrears accumulation.
Trauma-Informed Approaches: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice to Build Resilience in Children and Families
Trauma-informed approaches provide a framework for preventing and addressing childhood trauma and building resilience in children and families.