HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

Since the overturning of Roe vs. Wade in 2022, many low-income women have nowhere to turn: they face the economic repercussions of being denied abortion care and lack access to the support they need to care for a growing family. This brief looks at how abortion bans and insufficient public benefits at the state level affect women and families. It finds that states with abortion bans often do not provide enough supportive resources for growing families, like health care, food assistance, and cash support. The brief also offers federal policy recommendations to help families meet their everyday needs—no matter what state they live in.

Eliminating poverty in America is within reach, and a reimagined Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is key to achieving it. TANF can provide critical support to low-income families, but systemic barriers—like work requirements, complex applications, and inadequate cash assistance—limit its effectiveness. This fact sheet outlines how transforming TANF to focus on direct cash support, racial and gender equity, and reducing administrative burdens can improve the economic well-being of millions of low-income families and address the deep-rooted inequalities that disproportionately affect communities of color.

Medicaid-funded home- and community-based services make it possible for people with disabilities and older adults to live in their own homes and communities, where most people prefer to live. A long-standing direct care worker shortage, caused by low pay and poor working conditions and worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, threatens access to direct care. State and local governments are innovating to respond to the care crisis. This brief highlights a selection of state best practices to improve wages for direct care workers in Medicaid-funded HCBS programs and help solve the workforce crisis. By raising wages, providing good benefits, and increasing job quality for direct care workers, who are disproportionately women and women of color, states can start to build a direct care system in which all consumers, workers, and families can thrive.

Thriving communities depend on a strong early childhood education system—one where both young children and members of the workforce are served and supported. Some states are changing credential requirements for ECE teachers, but many early childhood educators face significant barriers to economic security and continuing education—all while supporting children, parents, and their communities with specialized education services. Our new report with The Institute for College Access and Success examines the racial equity implications of policies that increase credential requirements for ECE jobs. Featuring case studies of California and Washington, D.C., the report offers policy ideas for protecting educators and advancing racial and economic equity, including flexibility and support for incumbent workers, wage increases, and low-cost options for obtaining new credentials.

The Supreme Court decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson effectively criminalizes homelessness. This decision is a cruel, counterproductive move that punishes people for experiencing poverty.

Everyone deserves the opportunity to lead a healthy, stable, and economically secure life. Many government programs aim to provide a stable foundation for all families, but fall short due to legacies of racism. This report puts forth a visionary framework with principles for anti-racist policymaking, focusing on Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It includes three spotlights from leaders in Puerto Rico, Texas, and the District of Columbia applying these principles to advance racial and economic justice in their communities.

Child care is an essential element of our social infrastructure that supports child development, family financial stability, and economic growth. But structural racism and sexism have led to the underinvestment and undervaluation of child care in the United States. This brief, published with the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) offers a new, anti-racist vision for transforming the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) into a program that actively pushes back against structural racism and advances racial equity and economic prosperity for all families. It proposes recommendations for advancing a more equitable child care system.

All children deserve safety, protection, and the opportunity to thrive. And all families deserve support in their efforts to provide a safe and stable environment for their children. The child welfare system is vital to protecting children—but it has disproportionately failed American Indian and Alaska Native, Black, and Latinx children and families. By prioritizing preventative services, programs, and kinship care funded by the Family First Prevention Services Act, child welfare programs can increase the safety and well-being of children and families and reduce unnecessary family separation and foster care placement. This brief highlights progress made by federal child welfare administrators and outlines additional steps they can take to reduce foster care placement through equity-focused implementation of Family First in 2024 and beyond.

Everyone deserves the opportunity to lead a healthy life. But racial and ethnic disparities in the American health system—including Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)—block access to quality health care and damage the overall health and well-being of our nation. This fact sheet offers three recommendations to transform Medicaid and CHIP into anti-racist programs.

All children and their families deserve resources to take care of their needs, regardless of their family structure. The child support program—which obtains and disburses financial support for millions of children and their custodial parents—should improve family economic security. Ensuring regular child support payments are directed to families and eliminating harmful enforcement measures against parents who are unable to pay would help foster child and family well-being. This brief highlights progress made by federal child support administrators and outlines additional steps they can take to build a more equitable child support program in 2024 and beyond.