A significant body of research documents the poorer outcomes of teen and non-marital parenthood for both children and parents, and recent statistics underscore the strong association between single parenthood and childhood poverty. Child Trends' latest Fact Sheet, What Works for Disadvantaged and Adolescent Parent Programs: Lessons from Experimental Evaluations of Social Programs and Interventions for Children, reviews 20 parenting programs that are geared toward enhancing the parent's development and/or educating disadvantaged and teenage mothers on effective parenting methods.

A new policy paper from Zero to Three, Staffed Family Child Care Networks: A Strategy to Enhance Quality Care for Infants and Toddlers, examines how staffed family child care (FCC) networks are uniquely positioned to improve the quality of care that infants and toddlers receive in FCC settings.  It lists effective practices and shares examples of successful staffed FCC networks.  This paper offers guidance for how states can maximize partnerships to integrate staffed FCC networks in early childhood systems.  It concludes with action steps and state policy recommendations for implementing a staffed FCC network.

The American Family Assets Study from the Search Institute highlights critical strengths in families that contribute to positive outcomes for both kids and parents, introduces a new framework of Family Assets which focus on healthy relationships and practices in families, and emphasizes strengths that are relevant to a wide diversity of families in America.