OPRE has a portfolio of research focused on coordination of services to support children and families, recognizing that many children and families face complex, interdependent challenges and that services to address their needs may come from a range of providers. Projects within this research portfolio address the intentional coordination of two or more services, which may be provided under the umbrella of a single organization or by multiple organizations.
Often the goal of coordination is to improve outcomes for children, for families, or for both, with the theory that improvements from aligned services will extend beyond what any individual service might be able to accomplish on its own. That is, if children or their caregivers have complex and interdependent needs, and those needs are addressed simultaneously and synergistically with high quality services, it is hypothesized that there may be a greater likelihood of improved outcomes. Service coordination may also be intended to reduce the structural barriers to participation encountered by families who interact with multiple systems.
Service coordination can be initiated at federal, state, tribal, and local levels. Federal, state, or tribal level coordination can involve: (1) system-level work such as setting policy or organizational roles; (2) connecting agencies and promoting partnership among them, and/or (3) providing resources and assistance to encourage and sustain local alignment across service providers. Locally, including within organizations/agencies or partnered groups of organizations/agencies, coordinated services may take a holistic approach that considers the range of a child or family’s needs. This may include support for families to set and progress towards goals that the family sets. Regardless of the level at which services are initiated or funded, a common expectation is that coordination will be felt by the families receiving the services.
Examples of strategies that may be carried out by federal, state, tribal, and local partners and service providers in a coordinated services approach include:
- Adopt a shared mission and goals
- Align program rules, such as enrollment criteria and service calendars, to enable better coordination
- Emphasize relationships and communication between organizations and agencies, or between multiple service providers and families, aiming to strengthen and broaden services for a family and reduce barriers to service access and participation
- Align, share, and/or jointly pursue resources, such as funding, staffing, and data systems
- Streamline processes, such as intake, enrollment, assessment, and referrals
- Follow up with families or partners to support service completion as families progress
- Collect data, measure common outcomes, and participate in a shared continuous quality improvement process
A number of OPRE projects explore coordinated services. These projects span OPRE’s research portfolios, including child care, Head Start, home visiting, child welfare, and welfare and family self-sufficiency. OPRE aims to extract lessons and key findings from projects across its broad portfolio to gain a comprehensive understanding of the state of the evidence related to service coordination and to identify knowledge gaps and next steps for research and evaluation. The table below lists projects that focus on service coordination and provides key details about the projects. Many additional OPRE projects address service coordination as part of the research. For example, coordination of services across community partners may be a subtopic within a larger project, or sites within a larger project may be testing coordinated services approaches. A future update to this page will describe these additional projects and their relevance to service coordination.
Projects that focus on service coordination:
| Project name | Focal population | Relevant ACF programs | Level of service coordination examined | Years | Brief description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Understanding the Value of Centralized Services (VOCS) | Families with low incomes |
Child Care, Child Welfare, Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), Early Head Start, Head Start, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) |
Local | 2020-2022 | Literature review and qualitative research to explore the advantages and disadvantages of providing multiple services for families with low incomes at one location. |
| Next Steps for Rigorous Research on Two-Generation Approaches (NS2G) | Families with low incomes and children ages 0-12 |
Child Care, CSBG, Early Head Start, Head Start, TANF |
Local | 2019-2023 | Formative evaluations of four two-generation initiatives, and development of a measure of two-generation initiative functioning. |
| Building Capacity to Evaluate Child Welfare Community Collaborations (CWCC) to Strengthen and Preserve Families | Families at risk of being referred to child protective service agencies for abuse and neglect allegations | Child Welfare | Local | 2018-2024 | Evaluation-related technical assistance and cross-site process evaluation of community-level collaborative approaches to preventing child abuse and neglect. |
| Head Start Connects: Individualizing and Connecting Families to Comprehensive Family Support Services | Families enrolled in Head Start | Head Start | Local | 2018-2023 | Literature review, theory of change model, case studies, and descriptive study on processes related to coordinating and tailoring family support services in Head Start. |
| Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families (AMCS) | Families with low incomes and children ages 0-5 |
Child Care, CSBG, Early Head Start, Head Start, TANF |
State, Tribal, Local |
2018-2021 | Environmental scan, telephone interviews, and virtual site visits to identify and understand the range of approaches to coordinating early care and education with other health and human services. |
| Assessment and Mapping of Community Connections in Home Visiting | Families enrolled in Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) funded home visiting programs | Home Visiting | Local | 2017-2019 | Designed a prototype for a tool to enhance understanding of relationships between home visiting programs and other community services providers. |
| Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)-Child Welfare Coordination Guidance and Support | Tribal families at risk of child abuse and neglect |
Child Welfare, TANF |
Tribal | 2016-2026 | Evaluation-related technical assistance to Tribal TANF-Child Welfare Coordination grant recipients. |
| Integrated Approaches to Supporting Child Development and Improving Family Economic Security | Families with low incomes and children ages 0-12 |
Child Care, CSBG, Early Head Start, Head Start, TANF |
State, Tribal, Local |
2015-2018 | Literature review, environmental scan, conceptual models, and next steps for research on two-generation approaches. |
| Head Start University Partnership Grants: Dual-Generation Approaches | Families enrolled in Head Start | Head Start | Local | 2013-2019 | Four research grants testing promising two-generation approaches in the context of Head Start. |
| Study of Coordination of Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Welfare Services Grants | Tribal families at risk of child abuse and neglect |
Child Welfare, TANF |
Tribal | 2011-2016 | Descriptive study of grantees’ implementation of grant-funded service coordination efforts across Tribal TANF and child welfare. |