This toolkit from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was designed for victims of the recent hurricanes to assist in securing their financial obligations after a natural disaster. The toolkit provides a checklist of important financial tasks to address, reliable and trustworthy resources and agencies to help, and warnings about potential scams. Included is a printable and easy to use checklist to help consumers work through the necessary steps they need to take to ensure their financial obligations and assets are secure.

Having unemployed parents in early and late childhood creates long-lasting negative impacts on people’s quality of life. This study uses qualitative interviews on well-being and three decades of German panel data to conclude that having unemployed parents in childhood (0-5 years old) and adolescence (11-15 years old) creates a modest but psychologically and economically significant impact on reported well-being later in life. However, effects vary by gender, and some children with unemployed parents experience positive consequences like higher parental investment. Overall, though, stressors and burdens of responsibility on children of unemployed parents provide another reason to focus on lowering barriers to employment for job-seeking adults.

The USDA emphasizes maternal and child health as part of their work on nutrition assistance for low-income households, and this second-year report evaluates the efficacy of their initiatives on feeding practices and child health outcomes. The study used a mixed methods approach to gather data from mothers participating in the WIC Supplemental Nutrition Program about child diets and postnatal measurements. They found that WIC helps children consume regular meals and meet most of their recommended daily nutrient intakes, although working mothers are less likely to breastfeed for long periods of time. Also, only about 1% of babies receiving WIC assistance had low weight-for-length measurements, while about 23% had higher than healthy measurements.

This research paper recognizes the growing need for research on children to be supplemented by research with children and examines strategies to help children report on their own well-being. The researchers worked with children between ages three and five to introduce them to emojis, listen to their stories about particular emojis, and facilitate open-ended discussion about aspects of children’s lives that they shared based on particular emojis. A directed content analysis was used to code qualitative interviews into data, and researchers found merit in using emojis to capture children’s thoughts and feelings. As technology and media become more prominent in early childhood, these visual measurement methods may be effective for use in future research with children.

Visitors to this webpage can select states and territories in a drop down list or click on states and territories on an interactive map to view state caseload trends provided by The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE); the map links to IV-D Child Support Caseload Fact Sheets for each state of the United States and three territories. The source of the information on the fact sheets is the OCSE 157 Report.

Living in safe “opportunity neighborhoods” that provide quality services, employment, and schools is a recognized way for children and families to increase their economic opportunities and class mobility. The authors of this Urban Institute paper propose using tiered-evidence grantmaking, or funding programs based on the evidence-based robustness of their underlying approach, to increase access to opportunity zones for all. If a program shows promise, tiered-evidence grantmaking lets them apply for more funding for evaluation, scaling, and replication. This model is accessible to local institutions with intimate knowledge of their community’s situations, and also can incentivize new ideas while strongly supporting proven interventions.

In this Brookings Paper on Economic Activity, the authors focus on children within the safety net programs of Medicaid, EITC, CTC, SNAP, and TANF, and how federal money has shifted over time to currently benefit families with earnings above the poverty line. Because much research has been done on the substantial and lasting effects of poverty on child development and later well-being, current social net programs may be negatively affecting the poorest children. Over the past twenty years, funds allocated toward children have mostly remained the same, as have the number of children in poverty, but social program benefits have been shifting to benefit those at or above the poverty line more than those below it. While the authors do not discuss many policy implications, they emphasize the harm that cuts to these programs may do and promote adaptable reforms that quickly supplement income during recessionary times.

This brief reviews the recent trend of intracity income inequality, which is rising at a faster rate than national household income inequality. While policymakers cannot fully control drivers of inequality and the resulting economic and spatial segregation, they can leverage housing as a tool to combat this concerning trend. Researchers recommend implementing affordable housing policies across cities, enforcing fair housing policies to prevent discrimination, and exploring alternative housing models like housing cooperatives or community land trusts. These suggestions can decrease the disparities in education, community resources, and economic productivity that segregated areas face to mitigate the vicious cycle of affluence flight.

Recent causal research shows that people’s earnings are directly linked to the neighborhoods where they grew up, with impoverished and underserved communities at the bottom end of the earning scale. Johns Hopkins’ 21st Century Cities Initiative offers three categories of policy suggestions to help economic mobility for people living in distressed neighborhoods. First, place-based programs like revitalization and infrastructure development can create needed services and economic opportunities. Second, housing mobility programs can provide access to higher opportunity areas. Third, placelinking programs can physically reconnect isolated areas without moving residents or building completely new infrastructure. Together, initiatives like these can revamp and reinvigorate impoverished neighborhoods.

In this article issued by the Institute for Research on Poverty, discussion highlights the effects of paid leave on mothers’ post-birth employment and on child well-being. Policies, such as work requirements, time limits, and child care subsidies, are effective levers for increasing employment. Yet this research also suggests that any assessments of these policies must consider not only benefits of increased maternal employment, but also the potential costs associated with reduced child well-being.