Children and Families

Children and Families | 14 Articles

Achieving Reach in Youth Behavioral Health and Wellness through Catchment-Area Community Governance

This study, funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action research program, evaluates the feasibility of the Youth Wellness Hub as a hyper-local community governance model for integrating delivery and financing systems for youth behavioral health and wellness services. The Youth Wellness Hub combines three social policy tools that are separately promising or well-supported in the research literature: community governance; public health education campaigns; and service network coordination through fiscal blending.

Systems Alignment to Optimize Health Services for Youth Experiencing Homelessness

This study, funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action research program, tests the feasibility of an integrated system of medical, social and public health programming designed to improve outcomes for youth experiencing homelessness in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The study organizes community-engaged consensus building sessions with stakeholders from medical, social and public health systems and with youth experiencing homelessness in order to co-create strategies for system alignment, including multi-sector data integration, shared clinical practice guidelines, and co-location of health and social services for youth experiencing homelessness.

Can California's CalAIM Medicaid Transformation Initiative Achieve Systems Integration? Identifying Key Facilitators of Cross-Sectoral Coordination for Individuals with Complex Needs or at High Risk

This study, funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action research program, evaluates the effectiveness of California’s CalAIM Medicaid Waiver program in integrating social service and public health organizations into Medicaid coordinated systems of care for individuals with complex health and social needs. CalAIM is designed to dismantle forms of structural racism by investing nearly $2 Billion in helping Medicaid health plans and medical providers forge stronger alliances with local social service organizations and public health agencies in addressing the complex health and social needs of Medicaid beneficiaries, including paying for nonmedical services needed by these beneficiaries.

FAAITH (Faith-leaders Allied and Aligned to Institute Trust in the Home) and HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) for Equitable Systems Alignment

This study, funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action research program, evaluates the feasibility of a modified Church-based home visiting program that aims to align health and social services for households with young children and dismantle forms of structural racism faced by these households. The program to be modified and tested is delivered by Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton New Jersey, a predominantly Black congregation, with the goal of reducing adverse childhood experiences (ACES) and promoting positive childhood experiences within historically marginalized families and communities.

Research to Understand Systems of Housing (RUSH): Feasibility and Acceptability of Aligning Systems for Fathers

This study, funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action research program, evaluates the feasibility of a multi-sector “Functional Zero” approach to reducing homelessness among fathers in Atlanta, with a focus on Black fathers who are disproportionately represented among homeless populations. The study builds from an existing multi-sector coalition of leaders from medical, social and public health sectors who have formed Fathers Matter ATL to address the unmet health and social needs of homeless fathers, including forms of structural racism that limit the availability of housing options for homeless men with dependent children.

Tribal Care Coordination Dashboard Project: Coeur Adolescent Support Team (CAST) Referrals

This study, funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action research program, tests the feasibility of a multi-sector tribally-operated data system and dashboard for documenting health and social service needs and service referrals among youth members of the Coeur d-Alene tribe. The integrated data system is designed to achieve data sovereignty and improve timeliness and coordination in the delivery of health and social services for the tribal youth population, thereby dismantling forms of structural racism and inequity created by reliance on fragmented non-tribal service delivery and financing systems.