Issues: Families with Children

Two-Generation Programs

MDRC develops and studies strategies that intervene with both parents and children — conditional cash transfers, home visiting, and Head Start, for instance — to improve outcomes for whole families.

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Working Paper

Impacts of Home Visiting During the Pandemic

Home visiting programs, which improve children’s development and strengthen caregivers’ and families’ well-being, faced many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines a program that provided psychotherapeutic, parent-child services during the pandemic and the effects of delivering those services online or in a hybrid format at that time.

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Walking in Participants’ Shoes

To identify ways to bolster participation in fatherhood programs, the Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs project used “customer journey mapping,” a process that focuses on the needs and goals of participants. This document describes and illustrates each of five steps in the mapping process.

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Key Documents

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Strengthening Low-Income Families: A Research Agenda for Parenting, Relationship, and Fatherhood Programs

Past and ongoing research offers direction for how to strengthen the most basic foundation for early childhood development: family relationships. Part of our “Looking Forward” series, this policy memo makes the case for building on this accumulating evidence to create new and innovative approaches to support children’s earliest years and the unique role of fathers.

Investing in Parents to Invest in Children

In these remarks, delivered at Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s National Summit on America’s Children on May 22, MDRC President Gordon Berlin summarizes rigorous research evidence showing that supplementing the earnings of parents helps raise families out of poverty and improves the school performance of young children.

The Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation

Early Findings on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program — A Report to Congress

This report presents the first findings from MIHOPE, the legislatively mandated national evaluation of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program. It includes an analysis of the states’ needs assessments, as well as baseline characteristics of families, staff, local programs, and models participating in the study.

The Testing Identified Elements for Success in Fatherhood Programs (Fatherhood TIES) Focus Area: Two-Generation Programs Family Relationships Population: Families	MDRC’s Technical Assistance for Fatherhood Programs Focus Area: Child Support Two-Generation Programs Population: Families	Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) Focus Area: Family Relationships Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Intervention: Relationship Education, Parenting Skills Programs, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Behavioral Interventions
Applied Behavioral Coalition (ABC) Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education High School Two-Generation Programs Corrections and Reentry Health Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Children and Schools Intervention: Transitional Jobs/Subsidized Employment, Case Management, Career & Technical Education, Behavioral Interventions, Employment Services	Head Start Connects Focus Area: Preschool Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Work Support and Asset Building Population: Children and Schools Families Populations with Barriers to Employment Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Case Management	Get Ready Guilford Initiative Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Children and Schools Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: School Readiness, Case Management, Coordinated Care/Care Management, Home Visiting Locations: North Carolina
Child First Focus Area: Health Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Home Visiting Locations: Connecticut, North Carolina	Understanding Poverty: Childhood and Family Experiences Focus Area: Family Relationships Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Low Incomes Families	Family Rewards 2.0 Focus Area: Financial Incentives Two-Generation Programs High School Elementary and Middle School Population: Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools Families Intervention: Financial Incentives Locations: New York, Tennessee
The Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation, Long-Term Follow-Up Focus Area: Health Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Home Visiting	Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency-Next Generation Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Families Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools Intervention: Behavioral Interventions	The Kansas Child Support Savings Initiative Focus Area: Child Support Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Intervention: Asset Building, Behavioral Interventions Locations: Kansas
Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) Project Focus Area: Child Support Two-Generation Programs Family Relationships Population: Families Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Behavioral Interventions Locations: California, Colorado, Dist. of Columbia, Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, Washington	MDRC Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS) Focus Area: Child Support Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Work Support and Asset Building Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Families Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools	Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) Evaluation Focus Area: Two-Generation Programs Family Relationships Population: Families Intervention: Relationship Education, Parenting Skills Programs
Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE) Focus Area: Health Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Home Visiting	Opportunity NYC Demonstrations Focus Area: Financial Incentives Two-Generation Programs High School Elementary and Middle School Population: Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools Families Intervention: Financial Incentives Locations: New York	Head Start CARES Project Focus Area: Preschool Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Population: Children and Schools Families Intervention: School Readiness, Professional Development/ Teacher Training, Classroom Services, Curricular/Instructional Reforms Locations: California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas
Design Options for Home Visiting Evaluation Focus Area: Health Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Home Visiting	Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency Project Focus Area: Child Support Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Families Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools Intervention: Behavioral Interventions	Supporting Healthy Marriage Focus Area: Family Relationships Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Relationship Education, Parenting Skills Programs, Counseling/Advising Locations: Florida, Kansas, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington

Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) Training and Technical Assistance Focus Area: Family Relationships Two-Generation Programs Population: Families	Nudges to Increase Customer Engagement (NICE) in Child Support Programs Focus Area: Child Support Two-Generation Programs Family Relationships Population: Families Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Behavioral Interventions Locations: New York	Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Corrections and Reentry Health Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Telephonic Services, Transitional Jobs/Subsidized Employment, Case Management, Employment Services Locations: Kansas, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island
Next Generation Focus Area: Two-Generation Programs Population: Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Welfare-to-Work Locations: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Wisconsin	New Chance Focus Area: Two-Generation Programs Population: Young Adults Intervention: Parenting Skills Programs, Case Management, Counseling/Advising, GED Completion, Job Training, Employment Services Locations: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania	Ohio's Learning, Earning, and Parenting Program Focus Area: High School Young People Who Leave High School Before Graduation Financial Incentives Two-Generation Programs Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Youth and Juvenile Justice Population: Young Adults Intervention: Case Management, Financial Incentives, GED Completion Locations: Ohio

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