Defining Group Care Programs An index of reporting standards This paper makes a clear case for revolutionizing reporting standards for group care programs. Readers will learn how the field’s current approach paints an all-to-generic picture of programs while failing to define what works—and what doesn’t—in terms of serving today’s youth. New comprehensive standards, introduced in this report, can both expand what we know about group care practice and inject some much-needed nuance into this muddied field. Read More
Overstressed Kids Examining the Impact of Economic Insecurity on Children and Families This report takes all the factors associated with family economic stress and explain how they could affect the growth and development of children. Read More
No Place for Kids The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration The case against America’s youth prisons and correctional training schools can be neatly summarized in five words: dangerous, ineffective, unnecessary, wasteful and inadequate. Read More
Women and Men Living on the Edge Economic Insecurity After the Great Recession This report shares findings from the 2010 Survey of Economic Security which tells how people felt about their own economic security following the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. The results are far from rosy and indicate that, even after the recession’s official end, millions of Americans are financially frustrated, vulnerable and struggling. Read More
Restoring Shared Prosperity Strategies to Cut Poverty and Expand Economic Growth In looking at the Half in Ten campaign, this report considers the economic challenges facing families in the United States, and outlines a set of priorities for addressing these challenges. Read More
How Human Services Programs and Their Clients Can Benefit from National Health Reform Legislation This report explores the ways in which implementation of the Affordable Care Act enables agencies serving low-income households to streamline and modernize their own systems in order to ensure families are accessing all the services for which they are eligible. Read More
The Working Poor Families Project Strengthening Workplace Education Program Policies to Enable Low-Wage Workers' Advancement This policy brief revisits a few programs covered in an earlier report on workplace education programs, and highlights other programs that improve basic skills, literacy and english language skills. Read More
A Doctor When We Need One Access to Healthcare in Wisconsin for Immigrant Children and Families From flu shots to school physicals, basic medical care is vital to growing up healthy. Yet, for immigrant families, the hurdles to health care can be steep. This policy brief is set in Wisconsin but packed with statistics, stories and solutions that cross all geographic boundaries. Its main message? We must do more to connect America’s immigrant families with quality, timely medical care — and here’s how. Read More
Resolution, Reinvestment, and Realignment Three Strategies for Changing Juvenile Justice This report reviews the history and development of three juvenile justice reform strategies and analyzes their impact on policy, practice and public safety. Read More
Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth Outcomes at Age 26 This report, a product of the Midwest Study, analyzes how former foster care youth are faring at age 26. It reviews survey results on a wide range of issues — everything from employment records and academic experiences to family relationships and pregnancy rates. Read More
