Research Topics

  • Abuse, Neglect, Adoption & Foster Care

    The child welfare research portfolio includes research on children who are maltreated or who are at risk for child maltreatment; children and families who come to the attention of child protective services; and children and families who are receiving...

  • ACF Performance Plans & Reports

    As required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, ACF develops an annual performance plan and report that establishes performance goals and annual targets and reports on progress...

  • Home Visiting

    In collaboration with the Health Services Research Administration, OPRE is managing a number of evaluation activities related to the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program...

  • Other

    The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation undertakes some research projects related to Administration for Children and Families programs that do not fit neatly into other sections of the OPRE website. These are included here...

  • Strengthening Families, Healthy Marriage & Responsible Fatherhood

    This portfolio includes research and evaluation on topics such as family formation and stability, co-parenting, marriage and father involvement. Studies include a strong focus on the implications of programs, including the effects of welfare policies,...

  • Head Start

    Research sponsored through Head Start funding over the past decade has provided valuable information not only to guide program improvement in Head Start itself, but also to guide the field of early childhood programming and early childhood...

  • Self-Sufficiency, Welfare & Employment

    This portfolio addresses innovative approaches for increasing economic self-sufficiency and reducing welfare dependency, including rigorous evaluations of promising employment strategies...

  • Early Head Start

    Since the program was first authorized in 1994, Early Head Start research has examined the program’s implementation, its impacts on children and families, and a variety of special topics such as infant and toddler mental health, fatherhood and...

  • Child Care

    Research in this area furthers our understanding of child care as a support for parental employment and for children’s developmental well being, and of the role of child care subsidies in allowing low-income working parents to balance work and...

  • Cross Cutting

    The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation undertakes some research projects that cover multiple programmatic areas. These are included here...

  • Family & Youth Services

    This portfolio includes evaluations of approaches to helping youth make healthy choices that lead to self-sufficient adult lives. Efforts include evaluations of teen pregnancy prevention strategies (undertaken in collaboration with ACF partner...