Child Trends

02/27/2026

Home visiting programs play a critical role in helping families strengthen parenting skills, nurture parent-child relationships, and promote healthy child growth and development. Home visiting is also well-positioned to address outcomes related to parent and child nutrition, though few home visiting programs have comprehensively targeted this issue. To learn more about how home visiting programs approach talking to families about nutrition, Child Trends staff conducted a literature scan and talked with members of the home visiting community about their experiences. Experts at Child Trends have extensive experience researching and supporting home visiting. Visit our new webpage that shares a conceptual framework, insights from home visiting program staff and families, and relevant research about nutrition in home visiting.

Home visiting programs play a critical role in helping families strengthen parenting skills, nurture parent-child relationships, and promote healthy child growth and development. Studies show that home visiting programs are successful in improving maternal and child outcomes related to birth weight,...

02/26/2026

Child Trends’ new brief for the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s Foster Youth Initiative—written by young people with lived experience in foster care—explores the systemic challenges foster youth face in pursuing their desired career paths and the authors' recommendations for strengthening career services and expanding opportunities for youth with foster care experience. Their recommendations include:

- Funding career development services and supports that focus on building relationships and mentorship
- Funding organizations to build youth skills in their areas of interest
- Leveraging the Foundation’s relationships and connections to create a portal with job opportunities

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s Foster Youth Initiative (the Initiative) aims to promote the well-being and future success of young people who have experienced foster care in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York City, and nationally.[1] As the Initiative’s evaluation partner, Child Trends assesses p...

02/25/2026

According to recent Child Trends analysis, in state fiscal year (SFY) 2022, child welfare agencies across the country spent $632 million in Title IV-B funds—a decrease of 16 percent over the past decade.

Title IV-B of the Social Security Act is an important source of federal funding for child welfare agencies. Title IV-B funding can be used for a variety of child welfare services, including maltreatment prevention, family preservation, family reunification, services for foster and adopted children, and training for child welfare professionals.
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/child-welfare-agencies-use-of-title-iv-b-funding-has-decreased

02/24/2026

Online spaces have transformed how young people connect with their peers, learn, and play. For many teenagers, social media, video games, and messaging are central to daily life. Many teenage boys say they’re online almost constantly, and some of the content they see about relationships, consent, and masculinity can be harmful. Child Trends’ new brief addresses common questions that youth-supporting professionals and other caring adults in young people’s lives might have about harmful content that boys can be exposed to online.
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/helping-boys-navigate-harmful-online-influences

02/23/2026

Over the past 100 years, has been dedicated to celebrating the culture and accomplishments of Black people in the United States. At Child Trends, we are committed to producing rigorous research that helps advance the well-being of Black children and families. One of our projects—Black Families Flourishing, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation—recently published a white paper that offers a fresh perspective on Black family flourishing, one that focuses on Black families’ strengths, history, and linkages across generations.

This white paper explores how we conceptualize flourishing within Black family life and offers an emerging definition of “Black family flourishing” for the BFF project.

02/20/2026

The ECE workforce is made up of skilled, knowledgeable educators, most of whom have more than 10 years of experience and have completed college coursework. While field experience is one way through which educators gain key competencies, few states include experience as a qualification for career advancement. But with several states turning to competency-based frameworks for their career pathways, we see an opportunity to innovate.

The National ECE Workforce Center’s latest research-to-practice brief explores options for developing career pathways that recognize the knowledge and competencies early educators gain via experience in the field, in addition to professional development and education.

Check out the brief, and share it with an early education leader in your network: https://www.nationaleceworkforcecenter.org/publications/incorporating-early-educators-experience-into-career-pathways/

02/19/2026

Young adulthood (ages 18 to 29) is a critical time for building the skills, confidence, and experiences needed to thrive later in life—including in the workforce. Professionals who work with young adults should be able to draw on young people’s existing strengths to support their professional growth and long-term success, drawing on an approach known as positive youth development.

Child Trends’ latest blog explores how positive youth development principles apply in workforce development settings for young adults. This blog is based on findings from the Generation Work™ initiative—a decade of work developed and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation— that connected more of America’s young adults to meaningful employment.

Young adulthood (ages 18 to 29) is a critical time for building the skills, confidence, and experiences needed to thrive later in life—including in the workforce. Professionals who work with young adults should know how to draw on young people’s existing strengths to support their professional g...

02/18/2026

A Child Trends analysis of data from the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) shows that 59 percent of foster youth were employed at age 21 in federal fiscal year (FY) 2024. This percentage figure represents nearly a decade of growth since these national data were first collected in FY 2015, despite a small dip in employment among this age group during FY 2021—likely due to slow nationwide economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employment is an important source of self-sufficiency and well-being for young people—including foster youth—as they transition into adulthood. Steady employment supports financial independence, which may provide greater access to resources like stable housing and the opportunity to pursue education goals.
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/foster-youth-employment-age-21

02/17/2026

Adverse childhood experiences (or ACEs) broadly refer to a range of childhood circumstances or events that pose a serious threat to physical or psychological well-being, and are associated with many negative physical and mental health outcomes throughout the lifespan.

The overall prevalence of ACEs declined modestly from 2018 to 2023, but patterns in specific ACEs varied over this period. According to a new Child Trends analysis of the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), declines in three specific ACEs stand out: income insecurity, parental divorce or separation, and parental incarceration. These declines are notable in part because parental divorce/separation and income insecurity have consistently been the most common ACEs tracked in the NSCH since 2018.

The prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (or ACEs; see Glossary) declined from 2018 to 2023, but patterns of specific types of ACEs varied over this period. According to a new Child Trends analysis of the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), declines in three specific ACEs stand out...

02/17/2026

If you’re tackling complex ECE access challenges—whether it’s supply gaps, data limitations, or policy barriers—the ECE Access Center is here to partner with you. We diagnose system issues, elevate family voice, and co-create solutions that are practical and sustainable. If you’re ready to move from challenges to actionable steps, we can help. https://www.childtrends.org/research-centers/ece-access-center

02/13/2026

A recent Child Trends brief explores foundational considerations for those in the child care and early education (CCEE) sector to best support Indigenous families and communities. Given increased interest in culturally grounded approaches that integrate Indigenous stories, languages, and practices into child care, research and evaluation approaches that align with Indigenous worldviews and caregiving practices can support CCEE policies and programs that honor Indigenous families’ preferences for their children.
Our researchers developed four recommendations for research and evaluation efforts:
1. Center Indigenous worldviews on child caregiving.
2. Value CCEE programs that are grounded in Indigenous cultures.
3. Account for Indigenous community contexts.
4. Strengthen data and collaboration.
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/indigenous-families-preferences-child-care-early-education

02/12/2026

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is not only a personal issue, but one that shapes well-being, stability, and participation in the workforce. When employees can easily access and understand their SRH benefits, they are better equipped to protect their health, plan their families, and navigate major life decisions that directly affect their ability to show up and perform at work.

Child Trends’ latest brief highlights insights from an employer survey conducted by Child Trends and the Health Action Alliance (HAA). Findings suggest that several factors—including stigma, limited awareness of business impacts, and hesitation by leadership—may be keeping employers from taking advantage of timely opportunities to promote SRH-related benefits that support well-being, productivity, and retention.

February observances like Valentine’s Day and National Condom Week bring renewed attention to relationships and sexual health. These moments offer a timely reminder that sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is not only a personal issue, but one that shapes well-being, stability, and participation ...