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Policy Paper

Caring for Each Other: What it Takes to Promote Mental Health and Well-Being

May 2023

Our public policies and systems do not provide all families with the services and supports they deserve and have historically either excluded Black families. We must center families who are marginalized or excluded by our systems and policies, by creating shared principles that can guide efforts to promote health and well-being both within and outside of health systems. This brief shares eight things that we owe all children, youth, and families to promote mental health and well-being.

(3 pp)

Caring For Each Other What It Takes To Promote Mental Health And Wellbeing
Policy Paper

The Biden Administration’s Budget Recognizes Investments in Families Are Long Overdue: Now Let’s Get To Work

March 2023

In its annual budget released in March 2023, the Biden administration once again proposed critical investments in families, including restoring the Child Tax Credit, establishing a national paid family and medical leave program, and expanding access to high quality child care and early education. This fact sheet shares how the Biden administration's proposals reflect what Black, Indigenous, and Latinx parents and caregivers have told us that they need.

Cover Small The Biden Administration’s Budget Recognizes Investments In Families Are Long Overdue
Policy Paper

Policy Change to Promote Early Relational Health

July 2022

The early and foundational relationships that babies and toddlers experience with their parents shape the health and well-being of two generations. This brief highlights opportunities to promote early relational health with policy change and investments, including with existing programs, pandemic funding, and pending legislation in Congress.

(6 pp)

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Report

The Child Care Paradox: How Child Care Providers Balance Paid and Un-Paid Caregiving

June 2022

Care work is some of the most important work in our society, supporting children, families, and individuals across their lifespans. But, despite the critical work child care providers do for families and society as a whole, their work is systematically undervalued. This brief reports the findings from our interviews and the recommendations from providers.

(15 pp)

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Report

A ‘Godsend’: How Temporary Investments in the Child Tax Credit and Child Care Impacted Michigan Families

March 2022

To learn about the impact of the American Rescue Plan’s short-term investments in the CTC and child care, CSSP conducted interviews with low- and moderate-income (ranging from $0-$55,000/year) families of color, child care providers, and stakeholders in Michigan between September and December 2021. The findings make it clear: Robust, long-term investments in both the Child Tax Credit and child care are necessary so that all families—and particularly families of color—have the support they need to not just survive, but to thrive.

(24 pp)

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Policy Paper

Supporting the First 1,000 Days of A Child’s Life: An Anti-Racist Blueprint for Early Childhood Well-Being and Child Welfare Prevention

February 2021

To support the health and well-being of children and families of color, we must implement comprehensive strategies that address systemic and institutional racism. This report offers a blueprint for creating equity-centered, anti-racist policies that support the health and well-being of children and families of color.

(31 pp)

Policy Paper

A Critical Resource at Risk: Supporting Kinship Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

May 2020

As the current pandemic upends daily lives, among the families suffering the most are kinship caregivers. This brief explores kinship care and how this critical resource is at risk now and in the future.

(10 pp)

Policy Paper

COVID-19: Our Response Must Protect the Health and Well-Being of All Children, Youth, and Families

March 2020

As the United States responds to the public health emergency and the looming economic crisis stemming from COVID-19, there has not been enough attention to the needs of children, youth, and families who are likely to suffer most during this crisis.

Read a statement from CSSP President Judith Meltzer on COVID-19.

(2pp)

COVID-19: Our Response Must Protect the Health and Well-Being of All thumbnail.
Policy Paper

What do “Work Requirements” Actually Require? A look at programs that meet families’ basic needs in Montgomery County, Maryland

June 2019

This brief explores work we have done to understand work requirements in Montgomery County, MD. Our goal is to learn what was required of families to apply for, and receive, TANF and SNAP. 

Download the supporting infographic. 

(8 pp)

Policy Paper

Integrating DULCE into a State Child Welfare Prevention Continuum

May 2019

The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) marks a substantial movement toward child welfare reform by bringing child welfare financing into alignment with what research tells us is best for children and families—keeping children in their homes whenever safe and possible. This brief provides an overview of key opportunities for DULCE to better support families as a part of a state’s prevention continuum.

(2 pp)