The non-profit organization Texans Care for Children drives policy change to improve kids’ lives, helping them to grow up healthy, safe, and successful. But without local data, Texans Care for Children struggled to inform lawmakers
With most legislatures adjourned for the year, we recap the 2024 action on state policies to support children and families. So far this year, lawmakers throughout the country debated—and many passed—legislation that aligns with four key components of the prenatal-to-3 system of care.
States and community organizations can increase awareness of credits. Increasingly, the state and federal government use tax credits, such as the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit, to support families with low
Evaluating Texas’s in-kind and monetary assistance during COVID-19 To promote nurturing and responsive parent-child relationships and healthy home environments, states can offer home visiting programs to expectant and new parents with young children. During the
Though most legislative sessions have adjourned, lawmakers and advocates across the country continue to advance efforts to support children and families. A lot can happen at the tail end of a legislative session, as Colorado
State leaders can significantly increase the number of children eligible for child care subsidies across the country by expanding income eligibility thresholds. The level of income at which a family becomes initially eligible for child
Barriers to health care, high-quality health insurance, and parental leave work together to leave families and children vulnerable during the perinatal period. These barriers can shape life-long outcomes, particularly for children from historically marginalized groups.
The clock is ticking for tax day. And which state a family lives in will have a significant impact on whether they owe taxes or receive a refund—a boost of crucial unrestricted cash for the
Meadow Lakes Head Start, a preschool in Wasilla that has 45 students, will close down at the end of the year. Half of the students will move on to kindergarten and the rest will have
The Policy Impact Calculator dynamically illustrates the relationship among state and federal policies, as well as those policies’ effects on the resources available to a family of three. This recently updated tool demonstrates that state
