Families of youth with disabilities often access services to promote youth's transitions to adulthood. Such services can be oriented toward the youth or family. Using descriptive statistics and regression modeling of survey and administrative data, we explored patterns of service use and the association between outcomes for 9,013 U.S. youth with…

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of fathers' participation in the Father Support Education Programme on their perception of their role as fathers and the development of play skills in their children. The study sample comprised 40 fathers whose children, aged 5 and 6, were enrolled in independent pre-schools located in the…

Families are central to promoting communication in young children with disabilities with complex communication needs. Providing coaching on naturalistic language interventions (NLI) gives parents tools for independently intervening on communication across activities in the home. Both parents and professionals have limited resources, which requires…

Family navigator programs are becoming increasingly common among families of children with autism. Yet, it is unclear how family navigators are developed; by exploring the input of families of children with autism, such programs can be responsive to family needs. In this study, 12 parents of autistic children from low-resourced communities were…

Eating disorders have substantially risen in school-aged youth, especially in a post-pandemic world. Impacting children and adolescents across races, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations, prevalence rates suggest that eating disorders do not discriminate. Interestingly, despite the rising prevalence rates and increase of eating disorders,…

There are a variety of different psychological interventions used to treat recurrent abdominal pain in childhood. Active components in these interventions are unclear. Parents play an important role when it comes to their children's response to pain and management of pain, and are regularly involved in interventions. Four electronic databases were…

Families commonly make decisions about child care and early education (CCEE). CCEE supports children's learning and parents' work and education. Families may use CCEE in a child care center, home, or school setting. They may use a licensed program or relatives, friends, or neighbors to provide care. To support families who are looking for CCEE,…

This paper examines the challenges service providers encounter when supporting children in Direct Provision in Ireland. It focuses particularly on the organisations--both voluntary and statutory--that are charged with providing support for this vulnerable cohort. Specifically, the paper considers the roadblocks these organisations face helping…

Professionals play an important role in when and how families access autism services. Black families often experience disparate access to autism services compared to White families. Family Peer Advocates (FPAs) are professionals who have personal experience with the diagnostic process, school-based supports, and community-based services, and…

In March 2022, Child Trends contracted with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to conduct an independent evaluation of Parent Aware, Minnesota's quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for early care and education (ECE) programs. The evaluation, required by the 2021 Minnesota Legislature, includes several research activities…

On any given day, around 400,000 youths involved in the child welfare system eventually prepare for the transition into safe and stable permanency placements. Although schools play an integral role in permanency planning and transition success, there are no evidence-based programs that focus solely on supporting and improving student educational…

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a public health issue that affected more than 2% of live births in Kentucky in 2017. We analyzed data from Kentucky's early intervention (EI) program and the mandatory statewide NAS registry to learn more about how families of children with NAS utilize EI services. Out of 1,113 children in the study, 32% were…

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the Family Check-Up initiated during kindergarten on teacher-report of children's emotional and behavior concerns in fourth grade. Participants were 57 primary caregivers, along with their children and teachers. Participants were randomized to a Family Check-Up condition or school-as-usual…

Background: Australia has limited supports to help families where Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) impacts children and young people. National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Australia (NOFASD), in conjunction with the University of Otago, New Zealand, piloted and established a 7-week online program to assist caregivers to…

Government agencies collect vast amounts of administrative data in their day-to-day activities, primarily for program operations. But the information is less often used as a research tool or fully harnessed for its evidence-building potential. This brief is the fourth in a series of publications from MDRC about the Temporary Assistance for Needy…