Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families

2018 - 2021

States and communities across the country have been exploring innovative ways to strengthen and align the programs that serve children and their families. One way to do this may be through coordinated service delivery. Through this project, awarded to Mathematica, ACF seeks to learn more about how states and communities coordinate early care and education, family economic security, and/or other health and human services to most efficiently and effectively support the well-being of low-income children and their families. This work builds on the Integrated Approaches to Supporting Child Development and Improving Family Economic Security project. The goal of the Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families (AMCS) project is to build on previous investments by identifying and understanding the range of existing approaches to coordinating a broader set of services at the state and local levels. Coordinated services approaches seek to address the multi-faceted needs of families and to support children’s development by providing access to high quality early care and education, while simultaneously addressing additional family needs, such as parenting education, supports for family economic security, and other health and human services. By connecting and facilitating these services for families, coordinated services approaches endeavor to move families out of poverty in the short-term and decrease the chance that poverty will continue into the next generation. The project activities include:

  • A targeted literature synthesis;
  • A national scan of existing state and local coordinated services approaches that coordinate early care and education with family economic security and/or other health and human services;
  • Telephone interviews with select state and local coordinated services approaches identified in the scan; and
  • Virtual site visits with select state and local coordinated services approaches to gather more in-depth information about how they are serving families on the ground, including their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings from the field work help us learn more about how state and local coordinated services approaches develop, establish, and maintain partnerships, braid and blend funding, coordinate services, collect and share data, and navigate barriers to coordination. A series of reports and briefs will be produced to inform both ACF and the public about the findings and address gaps or needs in the field related to the challenges and opportunities in coordinating services for children and their families.

We encourage you to check out our blog post and interactive map, where a click of the mouse will let you explore the 95 state and local coordinated services approaches that met study criteria across the country.

Point(s) of contact: Tracy Carter Clopet and Laura Hoard

This study is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov under the title Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families (AMCS) .

Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB #0970-0535. Related materials are available at the Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families (AMCS) Site Visits  page on RegInfo.gov.

The most currently approved documents are accessible by clicking on the ICR Ref. No. with the most recent conclusion date. To access the information collections (E.g. interviews, surveys, protocols), click on View Information Collection (IC) List. Click on View Supporting Statement and Other Documents to access other supplementary documents.

Information collections related to this project have also been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under ACF’s Generic Clearances. Related materials are available at the following pages on RegInfo.gov:

Formative Data Collections for ACF Research (OMB #0970-0356)

Related Resources

This brief summarizes findings from telephone interviews with coordinated services approaches conducted as part of the Assessing Models of Coordinated Services project.

An in-depth look at approaches that coordinate early care and education with other health and human services.

The first report from the Assessing Models of Coordinated Services descriptive study shares findings from a national scan of existing state and local approaches to coordinating early care and education services with other health and human services for children and families with low incomes.