Resource Library

This report describes three potential designs for studies to assess the needs for early care and education and home visiting among American Indian and Alaska Native children and families.

For each of the three options, the report presents...

Historically, tribal communities have used storytelling to share language, traditions, and beliefs from one generation to another. Tribal social service programs and other human service programs can build on this rich tradition by using stories within a qualitative research framework. This report explores opportunities, considerations, and methods for using storytelling to understand and communicate information about social service programs in tribal communities...

This report describes implementation of the Tribal Home Visiting Program with details regarding...

This report summarizes research about development during the first 3 years of life. It highlights research in domains that are foundational for later school readiness and success, including...

Research documents the high rate of exposure to trauma among infants and toddlers, particularly children living in high-poverty communities.  Beginning life in the context of trauma places infants and toddlers on a compromised developmental path.  This brief summarizes what is known about the impact of trauma on infants and toddlers, and the intervention strategies that could potentially protect them from the adverse consequences of traumatic experiences. Interventions that are...

The Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation: Early Findings on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program - A Report to Congress presents the first findings from the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE), the legislatively mandated national evaluation of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV or the Home Visiting Program). The report includes an analysis...

The legislation which created the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program requires that grantees demonstrate quantifiable, measurable improvement in at least four of six benchmark domains.  HHS identified a list of constructs that grantees were required to measure within each benchmark domain and gave grantees the flexibility to develop their own performance measures for each construct.  This flexibility allowed grantees to develop performance measures that were...

This research brief summarizes the state of the field on cultural competence in social services. The information is relevant for organizations serving children and families from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, but the brief highlights research and strategies in serving Hispanic populations. The brief describes cultural competence and provides service providers and administrators with concrete strategies for the ongoing self-reflection and development that is key to strengthening...

The grouping "Hispanic" often makes it challenging to observe important social experiences that relate strongly to the needs, service experiences, and outcomes of interest to ACF for various Hispanic subgroups. Existing federal surveys do not consistently collect data to sufficiently examine how Hispanic ethnicity interacts with other socio-cultural experiences or how it relates to specific outcomes. Because current measurement is inadequate to differentiate characteristics within...