This Urban Institute brief examines how variations in work schedules for participants in TANF and other safety net programs affect their ability to comply with weekly work requirements for reasons beyond participants’ control. Some challenges participants face include nonstandard work schedules, fluctuation in number of weekly working hours, capacity to receive advance notice of work schedules, and controlling or setting the number of hours per week they can work. While facing these challenges, participants also need to address work requirements so they can receive food assistance and attain child or dependent care or other case assistance.

Noncustodial parents (NCPs) want to be positively involved in their children’s lives but often face obstacles, including legal issues and inability to attain economic security and to pay child support consistently. In a recent Information Memorandum, the Administration for Children and Families reminded jurisdictions of their ability to use TANF funds to provide employment services to noncustodial parents to help needy families provide for their children and rise out of poverty.

An Office of Family Assistance (OFA)-sponsored webinar on June 26, 2019 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET will feature a panel of programs using TANF funds to serve NCPs: the Ohio Fatherhood Commission, South Carolina Department of Fathers and Families, which fund community programs for fathers and families and advocate for “father-friendly” policies and practices in state agencies, and Fathers Support Center of St. Louis, which will share its experiences of directly engaging fathers to improve family and economic security. A presenter from the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement will also talk about programs for fathers and NCPs who have alternate funding sources. These programs and agencies participated in a scan to identify promising approaches to using TANF funds to serve noncustodial parents. The scan is being conducted by ASPIRE (Assisting Special Populations to Improve Readiness and Engagement), an OFA-sponsored project; an ASPIRE representative will share project highlights and moderate the panel.

This Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice guide, with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, was developed to assist juvenile justice and social service professionals who support re-entering youth after their confinement or court-ordered out-of-home placement. The guide includes model programs, anticipated outcomes, and mechanisms to meet the needs of justice-involved youth in housing, health, education, and employment.

This policy brief from the University of California at Davis, Center for Poverty Research examines the long-term persistence of “deep” poverty, or living on an income less than half of the official poverty line. Research indicates that two-thirds of persons who fall into deep poverty exit that status in two years or less, though recurrence is fairly common as re-entry lasts between 2.2 years and 4.7 years. The findings of the brief note that in-kind and tax benefits can reduce the recurrence of deep poverty to 1.7 years to 3.5 years.

This Child Trends report examines the impact of extended foster care on older youth (over 18 years old) as they transition to adulthood. The report analyzes the relationship between extended foster care and attainment of young adult outcomes in education and employment, as well as independent living. Data in this report are drawn from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) Foster Care File, the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) Services File, and the NYTD Outcomes File.

This Administration for Children and Families (ACF) blogpost, co-authored by the Associate Commissioner at the Children’s Bureau and the Commissioner of Administration for Native Americans, highlights ACF resources that can assist tribes and Native Americans in strengthening their children and family systems. These highlighted resources include the Children’s Bureau’s Capacity Building Center for tribes, Diligent Recruitment Plans to help tribes create and enhance their Recruitment and Foster Care programs, and competitive grants for innovative, locally-driven program design.

This blogpost, written by an ICF analyst and featured in the National Community Action Partnership’s In Focus online magazine, identifies the importance of creating strategic partnerships among organizations that serve job seekers with multiple barriers to employment. The article highlights how these partnerships can streamline service delivery under a “No Wrong Door” approach, leverage multiple funding streams through blending or braiding funding sources, and integrate non-employment supports that can lead to increased employment outcomes.

This National Association of Counties report notes that Appalachian counties have experienced an opioid overdose death rate that is 72 percent higher than in non-Appalachian counties. The report presents case studies showing how local leadership has addressed the opioid crisis by being strategic in action, supporting preventive and educational efforts, and expanding access to addiction treatments. Other strategies include initiating a criminal justice response to illegal opioid sales, providing services to those involved with the criminal justice system who experience opioid use disorders, and reducing local economic impacts.

This Casey Family Programs brief offers background information and a summary of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). The brief also offers data on funding levels at national and state-by-state levels, while framing CAPTA in the context of other Federal child welfare financing and programs.

This fact sheet from the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison provides concrete data on how the opioid crisis has grown in Wisconsin. Identification of the rising number of opioid-related deaths, geography of opioid-related deaths (for urban and rural communities), and the increased number of opioid-related ER visits are presented in reader-friendly graphics.