Case management is a common component of healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) services. Many social service programs are beginning to explore a motivation-driven approach to case management that prioritizes identifying the goals that participants want to achieve and the steps they can take to achieve those goals. Two HMRE grant recipients, Family Service Agency of Santa Barbara County (FSA-SB) and More Than Conquerors, Inc. (MTCI), implemented motivation-driven case management through the Strengthening the Implementation of Marriage and Relationship Programs (SIMR) project, which aims to strengthen the capacity of HMRE grant recipients to improve their services. This brief provides practical tips for implementing motivation-driven case management as part of HMRE services based on the experiences of FSA-SB and MTCI.

This comprehensive child welfare resource provides state and national data on child maltreatment, foster care, kinship caregiving, permanency, and older youth in care. The data are essential to help policymakers understand how many children and youth come in contact with the child welfare system, and why. States can use this information to ensure that their child welfare systems support the safety, stability, and well-being of all families in their state.

New research is beginning to shed light on how families used the expanded 2021 federal child tax credit (CTC), how this support affected outcomes for children, what kinds of barriers prevented many children in very low-income families from accessing the credit, and how all these impacts varied by race, ethnicity, income, geography, and other factors. The Urban Institute and the Berkeley Opportunity Lab will host a webinar on May 24, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET which will explore lessons from the 2021 CTC expansion, how cash assistance programs can enhance child well-being, and how state policymakers are moving forward with state-level credits.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration will host the second of three webinars focused on trauma, healing-centered care, and the public workforce system on May 11, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. This webinar will focus on the connection between trauma and substance use disorder and the role of the workforce system in supporting recovery. Speakers will discuss the intersection between trauma, toxic stress, and addiction, including neuroscience and best practices for workforce professionals in serving individuals with substance use disorders.

Some child support policymakers and researchers have recently questioned the fairness and effectiveness of pursuing civil contempt to secure child support payments, particularly for parents with low incomes. The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) demonstration tested a different approach to improving child support payments. Developed by the Office of Child Support Enforcement, PJAC integrated principles of procedural justice (the idea of fairness in processes) into enforcement practices in six child support agencies across the United States as an alternative to standard contempt proceedings. The PJAC demonstration project used a random assignment research design; parents who had reached a contempt referral were assigned either to a PJAC services group, which had access to child support services informed by procedural justice, or to a business-as-usual group, which proceeded to the standard contempt process. This report compares the outcomes of parents in these two groups.

Sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), the Family Input Study seeks to 1) understand how TANF, child support, and other human services programs gather and use family input for program improvement; 2) identify ways for TANF and child support programs to incorporate family input for program improvement; and 3) identify the successes and challenges these programs face in gathering and using family input. To support programs in planning for and engaging families in program improvement, the Family Input Study has developed a toolkit of resources, guides, and tools for TANF and child support program administrators and practitioners.

The Study is seeking TANF and child support programs run by states, tribes, territories, and counties to pilot test the toolkit. During the 12-month pilot test period, participating programs will lead a program improvement effort using the Family Input Resources toolkit and input from the families they serve to guide their effort.

If interested in participating in this pilot test opportunity, please complete the expression of interest form by May 12, 2023.

Accompanying this request are two one-pagers. The first document is a set of FAQs which identifies the expectations and benefits of participating in the Family Input Study. The second document is background information about the Family Input Study.

For questions, please contact the study team lead (Jeanette Holdbrook at jholdbrook@mathematica-mpr.com) or the OPRE project officer (Lisa Zingman at lisa.zingman@acf.gov).

In recent years, many people have experienced poor mental health, with over 30% of adults in the United States reporting symptoms of anxiety and/or depression in February 2023. Drug overdose death rates increased by 50% from 2019 to 2021, primarily driven by fentanyl. Increases in drug overdose deaths and suicide deaths have disproportionately affected many people of color. Negative mental health and substance use outcomes have also affected youth and young adults. These state fact sheets examining state and national-level data on mental health and substance use illustrate how mental health and substance use outcomes and coverage vary from state to state.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA)-sponsored Leveraging America’s Social and Economic Resilience TANF Learning Community (LASER TLC) initiative provided technical assistance (TA) and support to state, county, and tribal TANF programs in addressing the challenge of human services delivery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with Mathematica, BLH Technologies, Inc. managed the LASER TLC and developed a series of collective TA events, including a Tribal Affinity Group. These events featured national thought leaders and various program and practice models. The events also included opportunities for the 10 participating state, county and tribal LASER TLC sites to meet, discuss challenges, and ask questions of presenters. The LASER TLC produced the comprehensive Digital Resource Portfolio (Portfolio), which presents the information shared at the collective TA events.

OFA will host two “Office Hours” sessions for State, county, and Tribal TANF programs on May 2 and May 9, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET. The Office Hours sessions will:

• Provide background information on the Digital Resource Portfolio's development.
• Describe the Portfolio’s structure and organization and the core topics covered in support of TANF program improvement.
• Describe how to access, efficiently navigate, and effectively use the Portfolio.

Session presenters will include OFA leadership; Casey Grey Applegate, LASER TLC Project Coordinator, BLH Technologies, Inc.; Dr. Marc Mannes, LASER TLC Training and Technical Assistance Manager, BLH Technologies, Inc.; and Jonathan McCay, LASER TLC Subcontract Manager, Mathematica. Dr. Jeanette Hercik, LASER TLC Project Director, BLH Technologies, Inc. will facilitate the sessions. Office Hours participants will be able to ask questions and explore topics of interest in greater detail with the session presenters.

One in 30 youths, ages 13 to 24, and 1 in 10 young adults, ages 18 to 25, experience some form of homelessness over the course of a year. These youth face instability and trauma during an important developmental period which limits their growth and creates costly effects for them and the communities in which they live. This brief is the first in a series highlighting challenges and opportunities facing youth, ages 14 through 24, as part of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Thrive by 25® efforts. The brief analyzes youth homelessness and offers recommendations for how systems can make certain every young person has a place to call home - a safe and secure place to prepare for adulthood.