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Policy Update: January 2019

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SRCD News Related to Child and Family Policy

Register Now! 2019 Zigler Policy Preconference

The 2019 Zigler Policy Preconference will take place just prior to the SRCD Biennial Meeting on Wednesday, March 20, from 4:00-7:30 pm in the Holiday 6 Ballroom of the Hilton Baltimore. As in years past, the Zigler Policy Preconference is co-hosted by SRCD’s Science and Social Policy Committee, SRCD’s Student and Early Career Council, and the University-Based Child and Family Policy Consortium. This year, the Zigler Policy Preconference will focus on racial disparities in child and maternal health outcomes. Presentations by leading health disparities researchers, practitioners, and policymakers will identify key findings and research needs and discuss the translation to local, state, and federal programs and policies which seek to decrease health disparities and improve the well-being of children and mothers. The 2019 Zigler Policy Preconference will feature presentations by: Rebecca Dineen, M.S., Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, Baltimore City Health Department and Co-lead, B’more for Healthy Babies; Arline T. Geronimus, Sc.D, Professor of Health Behavior & Health Education and Associate Director & Research Professor, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan School of Public Health; Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, M.D., Director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health; and will be moderated by Andrea K. McDaniels, award winning health reporter for The Baltimore Sun. A reception will follow that will include appetizers, beverages, and time for informal discussion with the panelists and other attendees.
 
Registration is $25 for student and early career attendees and $45 for all other attendees; register now to guarantee a spot! Register for the preconference through SRCD’s Biennial Meeting registration site.

New Social Policy Report and Social Policy Report Brief

SRCD is pleased to announce the publication of a new Social Policy Report and Social Policy Report Brief by Dr. Stephanie Reich and colleagues entitled “Disparities in the Quality of Pediatric Dental Care: New Research and Recommended Changes.” The report focuses on disparities in children’s oral health based on socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and home language; the quality of care families experience when taking their child(ren) to the dentist; and gaps in the ways dental schools train students to work with young children. The full report, two-page brief, and a Spanish translation of the brief are all available here.

Spotlight on the SRCD Policy Fellow

Kelly Jedd McKenzie is a second year SRCD Executive Branch Fellow whose placement is in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Click here to learn more about her work, including her role in advancing the work on trauma-informed care through a new project entitled, Trauma-Informed Approaches: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice to Build Resilience in Children and Families. 

Legislative Branch Updates

FY19 Appropriations: Government Reopens Following Longest Shutdown in History

A portion of the federal government was shut down from December 22, 2018 until January 25, 2019, making it the longest funding lapse in history. Disagreement between Congress and the White House regarding the president’s request for over $5 billion in funding for a border wall in the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill led to the 35-day impasse. The shutdown ended late on January 25 when President Trump signed a stopgap bill to reopen the government and fund it through February 15. As part of the agreement to reopen the government, the House and Senate will be convening a conference committee of appropriators to negotiate a border security package with the White House. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the 35-day shutdown will cost the U.S. $3 billion that will not be recovered. Click here to read the full CBO report on the effects of the partial government shutdown.  

Evidence-Based Policymaking Bill Signed Into Law 

On January 14, the president signed into law H.R. 4174, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. This bipartisan bill, introduced in the House by former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and in the Senate by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), recognizes the importance of evidence and data when designing, improving, and implementing policies. This legislation is seen as a first step in enacting some of the recommendations of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, which issued its final report and recommendations in September 2017. The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act includes four sections focused on: (I) expanding and improving federal evidence-building activities; (II) enacting the Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act; (III) reauthorizing and enhancing the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA); and (IV) ensuring that directions in the bill are in agreement with existing laws and requirements. Additional coverage of this bill is available from the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Consortium of Social Science Associations. 

House and Senate Leadership in the 116th Congress

Senate Leadership 
Prior to the first convening of the 116th Congress in early January, both parties selected their Senate leadership at the end of 2018. Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) were re-elected to their posts, as was Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL). Senator John Thune (R-SD) was elected Senate Majority Whip. Since the Republican party maintained and expanded its majority in the Senate in the 2018 midterm elections, it holds the chairmanships of all Senate Committees for the 116th Congress. The Senate Committee Chairs for the 116th Congress are:  

  • Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Pat Roberts (R-KS)
  • Appropriations: Richard Shelby (R-AL)* 
  • Armed Services: James Inhofe (R-OK) 
  • Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Mike Crapo (R-ID) 
  • Budget: Michael Enzi (R-WY) 
  • Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Roger Wicker (R-MS)* 
  • Energy and Natural Resources: Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) 
  • Environment and Public Works: John Barrasso (R-WY) 
  • Finance: Chuck Grassley (R-IA)* 
  • Foreign Relations: James Risch (R-ID) 
  • Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Lamar Alexander (R-TN)* 
  • Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Ron Johnson (R-WI) 
  • Judiciary: Lindsey Graham (R-SC) 
  • Rules and Administration: Roy Blunt (R-MO) 
  • Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Marco Rubio (R-FL) 
  • Veterans’ Affairs: Johnny Isakson (R-GA)  

House Leadership 
Both parties also recently selected their leadership in the House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was again elected Speaker of the House, after previously serving as Speaker from 2007-2011. House Democrats also elected Steny Hoyer (D-MD) as House Majority Leader and James Clyburn (D-SC) as House Majority Whip. House Republicans elected Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as House Minority Leader and Steve Scalise (R-LA) as House Minority Whip. Since the Democratic party won the majority of House seats in the 2018 midterms, it holds the chairmanships of all House Committees for the 116th Congress. The House Committee Chairs for the 116th Congress are: 

  • Agriculture: Collin Peterson (D-MN)* 
  • Appropriations: Nita Lowey (D-NY)* 
  • Armed Services: Adam Smith (D-WA) 
  • Budget: John Yarmuth (D-KY)* 
  • Education and Labor: Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-VA)* 
  • Energy and Commerce: Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) 
  • Ethics: Ted Deutch (D-FL) 
  • Financial Services: Maxine Waters (D-CA) 
  • Foreign Affairs: Eliot Engel (D-NY) 
  • Homeland Security: Bennie Thompson (D-MS) 
  • House Administration: Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) 
  • Intelligence: Adam Schiff (D-CA) 
  • Judiciary: Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) Natural Resources: Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) 
  • Oversight and Reform: Elijah Cummings (D-MD) 
  • Rules: Jim McGovern (D-MA) 
  • Science, Space, and Technology: Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)* 
  • Small Business: Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) 
  • Transportation and Infrastructure: Peter DeFazio (D-OR) 
  • Veterans’ Affairs: Mark Takano (D-CA) 
  • Ways and Means: Richard Neal (D-MA)* 

*Indicates committees of special interest to SRCD member research, science policy broadly, and committees with funding jurisdiction.

Executive Branch Updates

Kelvin Droegemeier Confirmed as Director of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

On January 2, in the final hours of the 115th Congress, Kelvin Droegemeier was confirmed by the Senate as the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). In announcing the confirmation, Senator John Thune (R-SD), outgoing chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee noted, “The Senate has confirmed a highly respected scientist and academic to help further our nation’s economic competitiveness and national security. I’m looking forward to working with Dr. Droegemeier and expect his leadership will benefit the scientific community and our nation.” Dr. Droegemeier’s nomination to serve as OSTP director received extensive bipartisan support. The director of OSTP is the leading science and technology advisor for the White House. OSTP provides input into federal research spending in science and technology and advises on policy in key areas ranging from artificial intelligence to internet access to climate change. The position of director at OSTP has been unfilled for nearly two years in the current administration, setting a record. Dr. Droegemeier, an expert on extreme weather events, has been a professor of meteorology and vice president for research at the University of Oklahoma. He served previously as a member of the National Science Board that oversees the National Science Foundation.

Request for Information: NICHD Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2020-2024 

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has issued a Request for Information (RFI), seeking input on the themes, goals, and opportunities that are being considered for a new NICHD strategic plan that would guide the research the institute supports for the fiscal years 2020-2024. Below we list the key themes and the goals associated with each theme that are under consideration for the strategic plan. Please see the RFI for the full listing of research opportunities that are envisioned in connection with each theme.  

  • Research Theme #1: Understanding Early Human Development; Goal: Enhance knowledge of genes and regulatory networks at the single- and multi-cell levels during preconception, conception, and gestation to understand human development, improve fertility, and reduce pregnancy loss. 
  • Research Theme #2: Setting the Foundation for a Healthy Pregnancy and Lifelong Wellness; Goal: Improve pregnancy outcomes to maximize the lifelong health of the woman and her child(ren). 
  • Research Theme #3: Promoting Gynecological, Andrological, and Reproductive Health; Goal: Enable men and women to manage fertility and minimize the impact of gynecological and andrological conditions. 
  • Research Theme #4: Identifying Sensitive Time Periods to Optimize Health Interventions; Goal: Understand sensitive time periods during development and rehabilitation when prevention and treatment strategies may have the greatest impact. 
  • Research Theme #5: Improving Health During the Transition From Adolescence to Adulthood; Goal: Improve the transition from adolescence to adulthood by identifying behavioral, social, environmental, and biological factors that enhance health, especially for adolescents with disabilities or other chronic conditions. 
  • Research Theme #6:  Ensuring Safe and Effective Therapeutics and Devices; Goal: Develop, test, and validate safe and effective therapeutics and devices specifically for pregnant and lactating women, children, and individuals with disabilities. 

NICHD is seeking input from interested stakeholders including researchers, health care professionals, patient and family advocates, scientific or professional organizations, federal partners, internal NIH stakeholders and other interested members of the public. As noted in this message to SRCD members from Executive Director Laura Namy, SRCD will be submitting comments as an organization. To provide input into the SRCD comments, please send your input to opc@srcd.org. SRCD members are encouraged to submit individual comments as well. The RFI, including instructions on how to submit comments, is available here. Comments are due byFebruary 15, 2019. 

Child Care Policy Research Partnership Grants Forecasted Funding Opportunity 

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) has forecasted and is considering funding Child Care Policy Research Partnership Grants in 2019. These projects are intended to add to knowledge about the efficacy of child care subsidy policies and quality improvement initiatives that support employment and self-sufficiency outcomes for parents, increase low-income families’ access to high quality child care programs, and promote positive learning and school readiness outcomes for children. Please visit grants.gov for the forecast to view the estimated application due date, subscribe to email notifications regarding this grant opportunity, and for links to other information. 

Federal Reports

Reports

New Reports and Briefs from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation 
Several new publications are available from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: 

(1) Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking Demonstration Projects: Service Models of the Second Cohort of Projects This brief describes the service models of the second cohort of projects that implemented 2-year demonstration projects for domestic victims of human trafficking from October 2015 through September 2017. 

(2) Evaluation of Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking Demonstration Projects: Final Report from the Second Cohort of Projects This report documents the experiences of the second cohort of awardees that implemented the Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking (DVHT) demonstration projects from October 2015 through September 2017. 

(3) Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Impact Study’s Three-Year Follow-Up Analysis Plan This report presents a detailed plan for evaluating the intermediate impact of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 1.0) on various outcomes. 

(4) How Much Did Households in the United States Pay for Child Care in 2012? — Child Age, Household Income, & Community Urbanicity Snapshots These snapshots describe U.S. households’ costs for, and usage of, early care and education in 2012, looking at differences by age of child, household income, and community urbanicity. 

(5) Understanding and Measuring Program Engagement in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems This brief describes approaches to measuring QRIS program engagement that can be used by QRIS administrators and other stakeholders to distinguish and address different levels of QRIS involvement among ECE programs. 

(6) A Summary of Results from the MIHOPE and MIHOPE-Strong Start Studies Of Evidence-Based Home Visiting This brief provides stakeholders with detailed information on how home visiting programs were implemented and the effects they had on family outcomes. 

(7) Impacts on Family Outcomes of Evidence-Based Early Childhood Home Visiting: Results from the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation The report presents the early effects on family and child outcomes of four evidence-based MIECHV-funded home visiting models that were evaluated through the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE). 

(8) The Effects of Home Visiting on Prenatal Health, Birth Outcomes, and Health Care Use in the First Year of Life: Final Implementation and Impact Findings from the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation-Strong Start This report presents final implementation and impact results from the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation-Strong Start (MIHOPE-Strong Start).  

(9) Findings from In-Depth Interviews with Participants in Subsidized Employment Programs This report draws on in-depth interviews with the Department of Labor’s Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD) and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED) participants from 11 programs. 

(10) An Evaluation of the National Domestic Violence Hotline and loveisrespect This report describes the activities and outcomes of the National Domestic Violence Hotline (The Hotline) and the loveisrespect help line (LIR), and evaluates the services provided by The Hotline and LIR. 

(11) Federal and Local Efforts to Support Youth At-Risk of Homelessness This issue brief discusses the overall Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) grant program, including the rationale for the grant program and the supports provided to grantees. 

(12) Strengthening Grantee Capacity Through Evaluation Technical Assistance This issue brief discusses challenges Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) grantees faced, how they were addressed in evaluation technical assistance provided to YARH grantees, and thoughts on how to improve technical assistance. 

(13) Youth Engagement in Child Welfare Service Planning This brief summarizes the most common strategies used by Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) grantees and highlights three grantees’ strategies for engaging youth. 

(14) Implementation of Two Versions of Relationship Smarts Plus in Georgia This process study report presents findings on the implementation of the Relationship Smarts Plus 3.0 (RS+) curriculum in two high schools in suburban Atlanta, Georgia. 

(15) Organizational Culture in TANF Offices: A Review of the Literature This literature review summarizes relevant literature that describes the role that organizational culture plays in the delivery of TANF services and its implications for clients’ and frontline workers’ experiences. 

New Reports from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

Several new publications are available from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: 

(1) Factsheet: Estimates of Child Care Eligibility & Receipt for Fiscal Year 2015 This factsheet provides descriptive information on child care eligibility and receipt of child care subsidies both under federal and state rules. 

(2) The Child Support Performance and Incentive Act at 20: Examining Trends in State Performance This brief discusses differences in state child support program performances across incentive measures, underscoring the diversity of state experiences since the passage of the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act in 1998. 

New Reports and Briefs from the Institute of Education Sciences

Several new reports are available from the National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Department of Education:   

(1) Mental Health Staff in Public Schools, by School Racial and Ethnic Composition This Data Point describes the level of mental health staffing in majority-minority schools (more than half of the students are racial or ethnic minorities) and other schools (at least half of students are White and non-Hispanic). 

(2) Profile of Undergraduate Students: Attendance, Distance and Remedial Education, Degree Program and Field of Study, Demographics, Financial Aid, Financial Literacy, Employment, and Military Status: 2015–16 These Web Tables provide comprehensive information on undergraduate students who were enrolled in postsecondary institutions during the 2015–16 academic year. 

(3) Barriers to Parent-School Involvement for Early Elementary Students This Statistics in Brief examines the level of parents’ involvement in activities in their children’s schools, the specific types of activities in which parents participated when their children were enrolled in second grade, and types of barriers to parents’ participation. 

(4) Enrollment and Employees in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2017; and Financial Statistics and Academic Libraries, Fiscal Year 2017: First Look (Provisional Data) This First Look includes fully edited and imputed data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) spring 2018 collection. 

(5) Findings and Recommendations from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2017 Pilot Study of the Middle School Transcript Study (MSTS): Methodological Report, NCES 2019-031 This report summarizes the methodological findings of a pilot study that was designed to test the feasibility of collecting eighth-grade student transcript and course catalog data via electronic submissions. 

(6) Early Childhood Program Participation, Results from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2016 This report presents findings from the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2016, which collected data on children’s participation in relative care, nonrelative care, and center-based care arrangements. 

(7) Parent and Student Expectations of Highest Education Level This Data Point summarizes a study that asked both students and their parents about highest level of expected educational attainment. 

(8) Profile and Financial Aid Estimates of Graduate Students: 2015–16 These Web Tables provide a profile of the demographic and enrollment characteristics of graduate students during the 2015–16 academic year and information on how these students financed their education. 

(9) Why Didn’t Students Complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)? A Detailed Look This Statistics in Brief builds on prior NCES publications to provide an updated and detailed look at why students, or their parents, reported that they did not complete the FAFSA. 

(10) Three-Year Persistence and Attainment Among Subbaccalaureate Occupational Students: 2006 and 2014 This Data Point uses data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Studies to look at the rate at which students remain in school or attain a credential within three years of their initial enrollment.  

New Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(1) Transgender Identity and Experiences of Violence Victimization, Substance Use, Suicide Risk, and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among High School Students A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention summarizes work with ten states and nine large urban school districts to  pilot a measure of transgender identity among youth for use in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is conducted biennially among U.S. high school students in grades 9-12 in local, state, and nationally representative samples. Pooling data from the 19 sites in the pilot study, the report indicates the prevalence of transgender identity to be 1.8 percent of high school students. The pilot study found that transgender students were more likely than cisgender males and cisgender females to report violence victimization, substance use, and suicide risk. The report calls attention to the need for programmatic efforts to support the health and well-being of transgender youths.

Federal Funding Opportunities

This month’s FFO highlights a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is collecting data on health and mental health, cognitive function, substance use, cultural and environmental factors, and brain structure and function from youth starting when they are 9-10 years-old and following them longitudinally to early adulthood. These data will be made available to the scientific community through the NIMH Data Archive. The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to encourage applications proposing the analysis of this public use dataset to increase knowledge of adolescent health and development. More information about the ABCD Study may be found on the ABCD Study web page. Completed applications are due by 5pm local time of applicant organization on June 5, 2019 and June 16, 2019. Click here to read about this and other federal funding opportunities.