Child Trends

05/09/2025

Growing up in 1970s New Jersey, my on everything. She knew that kids needed nine hours of sleep (even if I argued that The Love Boat and Fantasy Island were educational). She warned me about sugar before the FDA ever did. She told me to wear my seatbelt years before it was the law, and she made sure we got fresh air—even if that meant moving our meals outside.

She read Prevention magazine, absorbed every nugget of child health advice from the Science Times to Better Homes and Gardens, and quoted the American Cancer Society guidelines before they had webpages to Google. And here’s the thing: She was usually right.

This Mother’s Day, I’m donating to Child Trends in her honor, because her instincts—and her evidence-based parenting—deserve to be passed on.

Join me by giving in honor of the mother—or the mother figure—who kept you healthy using the data of her time and share your best story. Let’s celebrate the women who parented with wisdom and a firm belief in flossing and fiber.
Make your gift here: www.childtrends.org/donate

Thank you!
Natalia Pane
Daughter of Frances
President of Child Trends

11/21/2022

Have you explored Activate’s seven new research-based s*xual and reproductive health resources? Please take a short, anonymous survey to provide feedback on these resources. Your responses will help us assess our past work and plan for the future. https://buff.ly/3TPMjT4

11/18/2022

Last month, Activate released seven new research-based s*xual and reproductive health resources. Examples include resources about s*x trafficking, birth control choices, opportunity youth’s s*xual and reproductive health outcomes, and intimate partner violence. Please take a short, anonymous survey to provide feedback on these resources. Your responses will help us assess our past work and plan for the future. https://buff.ly/3TPMjT4

11/08/2022

A new Child Trends datapoint from Dr. Deana Around Him finds that in the 10 states with the largest proportions of American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) children, AIAN children are overrepresented in foster care in nearly every state. Dr. Around Him offers the following strategies that researchers, policymakers, and practitioners can use to strengthen efforts to reform the child welfare system and address injustices specific to Indigenous families and communities:

Prioritize placements among extended family and others in Tribal communities for children who cannot remain safely at home.

Equip child welfare and other family-serving systems to understand and support Indigenous children and families specifically.

Support Indigenous families with culturally based and informed prevention and early intervention services.

In the 10 states with the largest proportions of American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) children,[1] AIAN children are overrepresented in foster care in nearly every state when comparing their percentages in the foster care and total child populations (see figure below). Of these 10 states, the pe...

11/03/2022

In response to a request for input from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Ad Hoc Committee on Racial and Ethnic Health Inequities, Dr. Heather Sauyaq Jean Gordon, Dr. Deana Around Him, and Elizabeth Jordan provide examples of federal policies that contribute to racial and ethnic health inequities for Indigenous children, families, and communities. They also offer several considerations for improving federal efforts that seek to advance Indigenous health. https://buff.ly/3Nl2mXw

10/27/2022

A new brief from the Marriage Strengthening Research and Dissemination Center synthesizes key research on stepfamilies from the last decade. The brief discusses the complexity of stepfamilies, the challenges of data collection when measuring stepfamilies, research gaps, and what it means for HMRE programs designed to support stepfamilies.

What we know about U.S. stepfamilies and their complexity, the data-related challenges in research on stepfamilies, and implications for HMRE programs designed to support stepfamilies.

10/26/2022

Even though parenting students represent more than one fifth of all undergraduates, many still face systemic barriers within educational environments. Child Trends’ new brief draws from the Expanding Opportunities for Young Families initiative—which focuses on supporting young parenting students and their children—to offer strategies that community college leaders can use to promote educational equity and improve completion outcomes for parenting students.

No conversation about educational equity, student success, or economic mobility is complete without a discussion about parenting students, who represent more than one fifth of all undergraduates. Helping parenting students succeed in college is critical to their economic well-being, as well as their...

10/25/2022

In a new report from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, authors explore data from the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) and provide guidance to users who want to use the NSECE to examine questions related to ECE access. https://buff.ly/3TTU7E1

This resource provides guidance to data users interested in using the 2019 NSECE to examine questions related to ECE access using a multi-dimensional, family-centric definition of access.

10/21/2022

Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) programs serve families who work an agriculture schedule. Children served by MSHS need tailored transition supports due to the mobile nature of their families’ work. A new brief developed by NORC, National P-3 Center, and Child Trends for the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) examines the different transition practices implemented by MSHS centers and the implications they have for MSHS and other federally funded early care and education programs.

Learn about kindergarten transition practices in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs in OPRE’s brief Supporting Transitions in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start.

10/20/2022

A new Child Trends blog explains four ways in which abortion restrictions will disproportionately harm teens, especially teens who are at a higher risk of unintended pregnancy (i.e., Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous teens; teens who are bis*xual; teens who live in low-income families; and teens who live in the South). Researchers assert that state-level abortion restrictions will delay care or make it more difficult for teens to access in-clinic or medication abortions. Additionally, without extra supports, teen parents and their children are likely to experience negative health and economic outcomes.

In a major public health success, the teen pregnancy rate has declined substantially over the past several decades, as has the teen abortion rate. In 2017, teens accounted for only 6 percent of all pregnancies and 9 percent of all abortions, compared to 12 percent and 17 percent, respectively, in 20...

10/12/2022

A new data snapshot from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families finds that 1 in 7—or 2.7 million—Latino children lived with a grandparent in 2019. Grandparents who live with grandchildren may provide caregiving and other support to grandchildren and their parents.

Discover an analysis that finds that one in seven Latino children live with grandparents.

10/06/2022

Individuals may face a range of barriers to accessing family planning and s*xual and reproductive health care, including concerns about privacy and confidentiality, lack of knowledge, limited appointment times, community-level stigma, or a lack of transportation. Child Trends’ new tip sheet highlights some strategies and resources Title X family planning providers can use to address clients’ barriers to care.

People looking to receive family planning and other s*xual and reproductive health (SRH) services can face many barriers to receiving this care, including limited appointment times due to staffing shortages, the need to take time off of work or school, a lack of transportation, a lack of child care,...