Conceptual Frameworks for Intentional Approaches to Improving Economic Security and Child Well-Being. OPRE Report 2018-03

Programs that address the needs of low-income parents and children at the same time may hold promise for reducing the transmission of poverty across generations. Contemporary programs of this type address some key weaknesses that may have limited the effectiveness of earlier such approaches, including too little attention paid to the quality, intensity, and intentionality of services for both parents and children. Administrators who lead these approaches today may regard quality and intensity as necessary, and they may also believe that delivering intentionally coordinated and aligned services is essential to achieving the desired outcomes. Yet further evidence is needed. Virtually no large-scale evaluations of the impacts of newer service delivery models of this type have been published to date (Chase-Lansdale and Brooks-Gunn 2014). This brief describes two conceptual frameworks that have the potential to expand our understanding of programs that aim to meet the needs of low-income parents and children through intentionally combined activities and approaches. It is geared particularly to program administrators and researchers who are interested in the services that could be involved in these approaches, how these services relate to mutually reinforcing outcomes for parents and children, and strategies for effectively delivering and coordinating services across programs and agencies.