Session: Benefits and Challenges in Meeting Families' Specific Needs through Early Childhood Programs and Services: Implications for Reducing Intergenerational Poverty (Society for Social Work and Research 27th Annual Conference - Social Work Science and Complex Problems: Battling Inequities + Building Solutions)

Strong evidence suggests that early childhood programs and services have positive effects on not only child outcomes (e.g., socio-emotional development, health, future earnings, and lower involvement in the criminal justice system) but also on parental employment outcomes and overall family well-being. These positive impacts are particularly pronounced for marginalized children and families who participate in these programs. For these reasons, anti-poverty policy proposals reiterate increased investment in, and expansion of, early childhood programs (e.g., child care subsidy or home visiting programs), as key to reducing intergenerational poverty. Additionally, most early childhood programs specifically aim to reach and prioritize serving children/families facing particular challenges, including homelessness, child welfare system involvement, and domestic violence. Despite these efforts, there are some concerns that stringent program rules, complexity of interagency collaborations, and the overall lack of funding might make it challenging for the most marginalized children/families to participate in these programs. Surprisingly, little is known about (1) barriers and facilitators to these families' program participation, (2) the extent to which they benefit from utilizing programs and (3) challenges that providers have in serving them. From both service providers' and parents' perspectives, this symposium discusses systemic barriers and challenges to serving the most marginalized populations through early childhood programs, as well as benefits that they receive when they participate in these programs. The four papers included in this symposium utilize various research methods to answer these questions, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. The first paper, using qualitative data, illustrates child care providers' perspectives on serving subsidy-receiving children who are involved in the child welfare system. The paper identifies benefits and challenges related to providing care to these children, and resources that can be helpful to better meet the needs of care providers and the children. The second mixed-method paper focuses on the issue of care for children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) by examining their engagement in non-parental care and describing unique circumstances and systemic barriers that IPV survivor mothers face when accessing non-parental care. The third paper uses qualitative data and focuses on home visiting programs, describing the home visitors' perspectives on program modifications to better serve families experiencing homelessness and the families' perspectives on the benefits of home visits but limited resources provided by home visit services. The last paper focuses on the impact of early care education programs (especially Head Start) and family engagement on developmental outcomes for children living with foster families. In conclusion, the symposium will discuss policy barriers and challenges that front-line service providers and marginalized families face when they utilize early childhood programs and services, which can limit the effectiveness of such programs in reducing intergenerational poverty. The panelists will discuss the implications for policies and practices to improve access and quality of programs and services, toward better meeting families' specific needs.t 13767 modified by 73.36.204.140 on 4-18-2022-->