Direct cash transfer programs are increasingly popular as an efficient, equitable way to quickly get cash into the hands of people who need it while giving recipients agency over how they spend their money. Though consensus is growing on the impacts of cash transfer, there are still no agreed-upon mechanisms for how to fund them. This issue is complicated by the fact that where program funds come from can affect a recipient's eligibility for other benefits and can trigger a “benefit cliff.” This blogpost examines funding mechanisms used in cash transfer programs in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Los Angeles to understand how their respective funding models affect recipients’ benefits and outcomes.

The National Indian Child Welfare Association will hold its 40th annual conference as a virtual three-day event from April 4-6, 2022, addressing tribal child welfare and well-being. The national conference will share the latest research on the well-being of American Indian and Alaska Native children and the most innovative child welfare and children’s mental health service delivery practices, highlight tactics and strategies for financing and sustaining services that impact children, and showcase strategies for involving youth and families in developing services and policies that lead to systems change.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration has announced a funding opportunity under the Workforce Pathways for Youth demonstration grant program. Workforce Pathways for Youth demonstration grants support national out-of-school time (OST) organizations that serve historically underserved and marginalized youth ages 14 to 21. Funding will also support partnerships between workforce development boards and youth-serving organizations. Applications are due by April 25, 2022.

This brief provides a graphical overview of some TANF policy differences across states. It includes information about initial eligibility, benefit amounts, work and activity requirements, and ongoing eligibility and time limits.

This Annie E. Casey Foundation brief shares six pivotal strategies for coordinating and funding community efforts to support families at risk of entering the child welfare system: invest in infrastructure at the state and local levels, create funding structures that maximize prevention funds, support community-led planning and design, align programs at the state level to better serve families, invest in evaluation, and leverage private and local dedicated funding streams. Strategies presented in this brief include practices from Colorado, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Washington State, and the District of Columbia.

The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) demonstration project, which began in 2016, integrates principles of procedural justice into enforcement practices in six child support agencies across the United States. This guide assists child support agencies to develop more people-centered practices using the principles of procedural justice to build trust, better engage participants, and create a more fair and effective process for serving families and supporting children.

The Fathers and Continuous Learning in Child Welfare (FCL) project sought to improve placement stability and permanency outcomes for children by engaging their fathers and paternal relatives. FCL implemented a methodology known as the Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC), a continuous learning methodology. The last in a three-part series, this podcast discusses strategies in the BSC within Prowers County, Colorado. Topics discussed include:

• The flexibility and innovation small child welfare agencies can have in comparison to larger, more bureaucratic agencies
• The collective accountability child welfare and partner human service agencies shared in Prowers County to engage and involve fathers and paternal families in their casework and prevention efforts
• The "must-haves" necessary to spark and sustain culture change

The Welfare Rules Database tracks state TANF policies over time, from 1996 to the present. The database includes hundreds of variables related to initial eligibility, benefit amounts, work and activity requirements, and ongoing eligibility and time limits. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report provides dozens of tables detailing selected state policies for 2020.

While most racial wealth gaps analyses focus on total asset holdings, intergenerational transfers, or disparities in specific assets, less attention has been paid to debt. Although there has been analysis of racial disparities in mortgages, and recent research has illuminated the role of student loans in widening the wealth gap between Black and white households, debt remains under-appreciated as a driver of racial wealth gaps. This brief explores links between racial disparities in debt and those in wealth and reflects findings from a literature review, interviews with experts, analysis of federal survey data, and focus groups and consumer surveys.

Family-engaged case planning is a new model for the initial stage of the juvenile probation process where juvenile probation officers formulate case plans by collaborating with young people and their families. This approach is necessary to align probation with powerful studies on adolescent brain development and effective responses to delinquent behavior. This Practice Guide covers:

• Why family engagement is important—and a departure from the status quo.
• Three stages of the family-engaged case planning model.
• Advice on adapting this model to local jurisdictions.
• Six common challenges to meaningfully engaging families.