This report highlights how public sector human services decision-makers identify and use needed evidence. Recommendations are made on how these leaders can contribute to a broader use of various types of evidence. The report concludes with a…

This PolicyLink report focuses on a paradigm shift in addressing intimate partner violence through a public health framework rather than a criminalization approach. The report identifies ways community stakeholders (such as schools and child welfare…

This report, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and other organizations, suggests how state policy makers in Maine could reform the child welfare or juvenile justice system for youth. It presents national research that identifies how a full…

This Chapin Hall report reviews the implementation of a “housing first” approach that addresses the needs of families in the child welfare system. The case study of supportive housing in Connecticut was a demonstration project, funded by the…

Based on a prior report on associations of time in extended foster care with youth outcomes, researchers at Chapin Hall examined data of more than 40,000 youth from California’s Child Welfare Services/Case Management System, including youth who had…

New research from the Center for Poverty Research illuminates the links between low socioeconomic status (SES) and metabolic syndrome, a family of conditions that make a person more likely to experience heart disease, strokes, and diabetes. These…

This recent Council for a Strong America report profiles the opioid epidemic in Wisconsin and how parental substance abuse should be considered a significant Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) that impedes childhood development. The report notes how…

Research shows that children who must be separated from their birth parents fare better when placed in the care of relatives as opposed to non-relatives. This finding is becoming particularly important as the number of foster children increases due…

In response to several proposed federal changes to safety net program requirements, the Urban Institute developed a Well Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) and published a report on the status of individual and family health and well-being. The…

Studying large public social programs can be a challenge for social scientists. Recent technological developments have allowed researchers to use big data — data sets that combine survey and administrative data — to examine how social programs work…