Child Trends, 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD (2025)

12/29/2025

Research is more powerful when it is shaped with the people it is meant to serve. That belief is at the heart of Child Trends’ new Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) Library.

The Library was built from Child Trends’ experience leading more than 50 CEnR projects and a review of existing resources in the field. It includes practical tools, case studies, and lessons learned from projects that range from youth participatory action research on community violence to measures of student math engagement co-developed with teachers and students.

Organized around the five stages of CEnR—Partner, Plan, Implement, Analyze, and Share—the Library offers resources such as budget templates, facilitation guides, interview protocols, and examples of authentic collaboration. Users can filter by project type and level of community engagement to find what is most relevant to their context.

Explore the CEnR Library to see how research can be designed and carried out in partnership with youth, families, and communities—and how those collaborations lead to findings that are more meaningful, actionable, and lasting.

The implement stage puts research plans into motion. At this stage, training ensures ethical and effective data collection, recruitment efforts engage participants, and data is gathered. Ongoing communication with community partners helps address challenges and maintain alignment with research goals...

12/26/2025

Child welfare agencies rely on multiple funding streams (including local, state, and federal sources) to administer programs and services. A national survey—conducted by Child Trends and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Casey Family Programs—found that spending by child welfare agencies increased slightly over the past decade to a total of $34.3 billion in state fiscal year (SFY) 2022. The survey found that expenditures increased by 3 percent from SFY 2012 to SFY 2022, despite a small decrease from SFY 2020 to SFY 2022 as foster care caseloads declined.

Child welfare agencies across the United States are charged with protecting and promoting the welfare of children and youth who are at risk of or who have been victims of maltreatment. State and local child welfare agencies rely on multiple funding streams to administer programs and services. While....

12/24/2025

More families are now receiving home visits funded through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HHS' Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program than in years prior. Experts at Child Trends have a long track record of researching and supporting home visiting efforts. Our data point finds that the MIECHV Program is on track to provide 1 million home visits in 2025.

Research shows that home visiting programs improve outcomes for both children and parents by providing education and support, screening for developmental delays and depression, and connecting families to other community services.

More families are now receiving home visits funded through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program than in years prior. Data from reports to Congress for fiscal years (FYs) 2022 and 2023, and from the MIECHV dashboard, indicate that not only are an increasing number....

12/23/2025

📣🔍 Explore the National Early Care and Education Workforce Center’s new research-to-practice (RtP) brief “Work Environments Affect Early Educators’ Career Decisions,” summarizing findings from two CSCCE studies on how early educators’ work environments may influence their career decisions. The studies look at how the multifaceted nature of work environments influence early educators’ plans to stay in their jobs or in the ECE field. In this brief, the Center explores how educators assess different aspects of their and whether those assessments could predict their career intentions.

The brief doesn’t just share research—it also includes real-world examples and practical steps that ECE leaders can use to strengthen working conditions and support their teams. Read the brief now

This research-to-practice brief summarizes findings from two studies conducted by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment on […]

12/22/2025

The number of children entering foster care in the United States decreased by 36 percent from federal fiscal year (FFY) 2016 to FFY 2023. This data comes from an update to Child Trends’ popular child welfare data interactive that now includes FFY 2022 and 2023 national and state-level data on foster care, relative caregiving, permanency, and older youth. The tool offers users information on national trends and profiles for all 50 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.

The decrease in children entering care may be due to shifts in policies and practices aimed at preventing unnecessary foster care entries. Among those who do enter foster care in the United States, the most common reasons in FFY 2023 were neglect (62% of children), parental substance abuse (37%), physical abuse (13%), and inadequate housing (12%).

This comprehensive child welfare resource provides state and national data on child maltreatment, foster care, kinship caregiving, permanency, and older youth in care. The data are essential to help policymakers understand how many children and youth come in contact with the child welfare system, an...

12/19/2025

Fewer high school students say they’ve had s*x. This number has been trending downward over the past three decades. But what does and doesn’t this information tell us about teens and their overall s*xual health and safety? You can listen to Jenn Rogers, senior program area director for s*xual and reproductive health at Child Trends, as she explains the data behind the trend and raises questions that deserve more attention.

Today’s high schoolers are reporting lower rates of s*xual activity than previous generations. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) from 2023, 32 percent of high schoolers said they’ve ever had s*xual in*******se. That’s a noti...

12/18/2025

To learn more about permanency in your state, visit our Child Welfare Data Interactive, a one-of-a-kind data tool that allows users to examine state and national child welfare data. https://www.childtrends.org/publications/state-level-data-for-understanding-child-welfare-in-the-united-states

Only 62 percent of older youth (ages 14-21) in the United States exited foster care to legal permanency in 2023, compared to 98 percent of children ages 13 and under. These findings come from a recent Child Trends analysis of data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).

Young people who exit foster care to permanency experience better young adult outcomes than youth who emancipate from, or age out of, foster care. Therefore, it is imperative that all children and youth are able to exit foster care to a permanent living arrangement as quickly and safely as possible—ideally prior to aging out.
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/rates-permanency-older-youth-foster-care

12/17/2025

Strategic juvenile justice financing can create more sustainable and effective juvenile justice systems that support the developmental needs of young people. Child Trends' roadmap can help state and local leaders develop and implement financing strategies that align with their jurisdiction’s unique needs and goals.

Informed by a survey of states and localities, this study offers strategic financing approaches to fund effective and sustainable juvenile justice programs and services.

12/16/2025

Workforce development organizations face a big challenge: helping employers understand what today’s young workers want and need while helping young people find workplaces where they can thrive. One effective strategy is to center young workers’ voices through things like focus groups, interviews, surveys, and advisory boards. These efforts give employers valuable insights that can strengthen recruitment, boost retention, and create more supportive workplaces for early-career employees.

A new research brief from Child Trends—part of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s nearly decade-long Generation Work initiative—highlights what local partnerships learned using these strategies.

Increasingly, workforce development practitioners seek to elevate the voices of young adult workers as a means to partner with employers on improving workplace practices. Hearing directly from young adults and earlier career workers helps employers better understand and appreciate their needs, motiv...

12/15/2025

Family Resource Centers (FRCs) provide critical services to families within their communities, including access to supports for basic needs, help accessing public benefits, and skill-building classes. Child Trends’ latest brief—funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation—explores the services that FRCs provide across the country, especially to young parents (under age 25). Our researchers found that FRCs serving young parents are significantly more likely to help families access certain safety net programs than those that did not report serving young parents.

Family Resource Centers (FRCs) provide critical services to families in their communities, including access to supports for basic needs (e.g., food), support accessing public benefits, and skill-building classes (e.g., parenting classes). While some studies have shown the effectiveness of FRCs in in...

12/12/2025

As parents navigate more misinformation than ever before, many are looking for trusted guidance to support their children. Child Trends is here with clear, science-backed insights families can rely on—but we can’t do this work alone. As you consider your year-end giving, your tax-deductible gift can help us:

• Study the systems that support children and families
• Turn our research into practical tools for parents
• Respond quickly to emerging issues affecting kids

Make your year-end gift today:

Child Trends promotes the well-being of all children and youth through applied research that informs public policies, builds the evidence base for what works, and mines data to identify young people who are overlooked or ill served by public systems. Our research is known for its rigor and objectivi...

12/11/2025

To learn more about child maltreatment in your state, visit our Child Welfare Data Interactive, a one-of-a-kind data tool that allows users to examine state and national child welfare data. https://www.childtrends.org/publications/state-level-data-for-understanding-child-welfare-in-the-united-states

A recent Child Trends analysis of the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) shows that the number of referrals made to child welfare agencies for child maltreatment continued to climb in 2023. Referrals include those that were “screened in” for investigation or for an alternative response by child protective services, as well as those “screened out” for no finding of maltreatment or unsubstantiated referrals.

Although the number of referrals has increased over the past two years, the number of substantiated cases has been decreasing. In 2022, “screened out” referrals outpaced “screened in” referrals for the first time since the pandemic began, a gap that widened further in 2023. This finding is likely due to several factors, including changes in mandated reporting practices and increased consistency in screening protocols, as cited by states in the NCANDS report.
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/referrals-child-welfare-agencies-child-maltreatment

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