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The share of children living in poverty increased dramatically in 2022, according to Census Bureau data released today. A primary driver of the sharp increase in child poverty in 2022 was the expiration of the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC), which kept 5.3 million people out of poverty in 2021, but only 2.4 million people in 2022.

Everywhere I turn, I hear more and more about the negative consequences of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Whether hearing about sexual and reproductive health care being denied to those in need or hearing of unfortunate harm caused due to oppressive laws that don't allow people to exercise autonomy over their bodies. These struggles [...]

Mandated reporters are omnipresent in every formal support system on which low-income families rely to meet basic needs. Due to America’s long history of racism and white supremacy, these families are disproportionately likely to be Black, Indigenous, and Latine. Though reporting mandates have been the primary intervention purported to keep children safe over the past 50 years, evidence has never shown that they support children’s welfare or prevent child abuse.

As a young, single parent in Omaha, Nebraska, applying for subsidized childcare was a frustrating, exhausting, and cumbersome process. I was excited to receive custody of my son, but I had to wait until the court decision to start applying for childcare. Without the adequate time, and resources to prepare for this transition, I felt [...]

The Brighter Futures Workgroup is an initiative of CSSP’s Youth Power, Parent Power portfolio. The Youth Power, Parent Power initiative partners with expectant and parenting youth to transform standards of care across public systems and communities so that they can succeed and thrive. The Brighter Futures Workgroup is a collaboration between current and former youth [...]

Strategic storytelling is a powerful advocacy tool you can utilize to raise awareness, highlight issues, and call for action. You can strategically tell your story to motivate different stakeholders, including policymakers, to implement or improve policies for communities and create equitable outcomes. It's a great way to provide supportive evidence for a change that you [...]

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase young father? Now combine that with a young father in foster care. Some people have perceptions that young fathers in care do not want to be a part of their child’s life, or that they are irresponsible in making decisions for themselves and their families. Young [...]

The Center for the Study of Social Policy has launched a new section of their website, called The New Neighborhood, dedicated to highlighting and sharing the various community early childhood system efforts emerging across the country. We asked Dr. Joan Lombardi, longtime champion and founder of the podcast that first launched this name, to reflect [...]

Reports that the Biden administration is considering reviving the detention of immigrant families are alarming and should be a wakeup call to anyone concerned with the health and well-being of families. There is widespread consensus among pediatricians, social workers and psychologists, and other experts that family detention is a harmful practice that can have lasting [...]

Last month, the February 17 issue of Frontiers in Health Services featured a pathbreaking research paper entitled Sustaining and Scaling a Clinic-based Approach to Address Health-Related Social Needs. This paper shows how DULCE teams used continuous quality improvement approaches to sustain the DULCE intervention and to introduce it to new clinics. Remarkably, most (87%) of [...]