Infants and Toddlers

Committee for Education Funding Webinar on Education Labor Shortages

On March 2nd, 2022, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) hosted a webinar on Shortages in the Education Labor Force. The webinar opened with the CEF Executive Director, Sarah Abernathy, discussing the need for greater federal investment in education. Currently, education accounts for less than 2% of federal spending, with regular education funding remaining flat

HHS And White House Listen to Families’ Child Care Concerns

On Tuesday, February 22, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, Gender Policy Council Director Jen Klein, and Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Mobility Carmel Martin hosted a conversation with parents and their children at the White House to discuss their struggles with finding and affording childcare

Maternal Deaths Rose in 2020

According to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of maternal deaths rose during the first year of the pandemic. Data from the National Vital Statistics System show that in 2020, 861 women were identified as having died of maternal causes in the United States, compared with 754

Impact of the CTC On Child Development Baby’s First Year Study

On a webinar, hosted on Thursday, February 10, 2022, new research, the First Randomized Controlled Trial of Poverty Reduction in Early Childhood, focused on the impact that cash assistance to families can have on infant brain development. Presenters Sonya Troller-Renfree and Greg Duncan outlined findings that expands the understanding and the implications of poverty on

Vice President Harris Hosts Event for EITC/CTC Day of Action

On February 8th, 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling hosted a press event for the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit Day of Action. Sperling opened the event by giving the history of the Child Tax Credit and an overview of

Support for Pregnant and Post-Partum Women Who Use Substances

On February 3, 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a series of new reports from the Office of the Assistance Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) that “highlight how pregnant and postpartum women who use substances and their children can benefit from evidence-based prevention and treatment strategies.” Based on a review

Child Maltreatment 2020 Show Decreases

On January 21, 2022, the Children’s Bureau released the annual child abuse and neglect report: Child Maltreatment 2020. This year’s report based on data and reports in the first year of the pandemic, shows an overall decrease in abuse and neglect reports and fatalities, but the numbers also highlight some troubling trends or questions: A

Child Tax Credit (CTC) IRS Website Goes Live

On Monday, January 24, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) updated their live sight designed to help families get the remaining part of their 2021 CTC. There are two important live tabs: the Get Your Child Tax Credit and Check Your Eligibility. The CTC has been federal law since the mid-1990s, but last year’s expansion

Cash Assistance: Impacts on Infant Brain Activity

A newly-released study “The impact of a poverty reduction intervention on infant brain activity” by Toller-Renfree et. al., shows an important connection between cash assistance and brain development. A group of university-based researchers ere, attempted to estimate of the causal impact of a poverty reduction intervention on brain activity in the first year of life.

Why Families Need to File Tax Returns for the 2021 CTC

The CTC has been federal law since the mid-1990s, but last year’s expansion added several improvements that lifted approximately half of children out of poverty.  It did that by making the tax “refundable’ meaning families could benefit even if they did not have enough “earned-income.’  It also added an innovation to make it more immediate:

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