Thriving Families at the New Practice Lab
Why This Work Matters For Families
Families across the United States—especially those with young children—are struggling. Child care costs are skyrocketing, rising at a faster rate than inflation. Concurrently, the cost of living remains high, forcing many families to live paycheck to paycheck. Though designed to support families, policy in this country often fails to address root causes of poverty, and poor delivery leaves families disconnected from critical supports, keeping too many families from achieving economic stability.
The New Practice Lab is running a multiyear research effort directly engaging families with young children to deepen our understanding of the evolving challenges through a more holistic view, enabling their voices to inform social policy design and delivery. Whereas many efforts connect with families about a specific program or service, this effort aims to co-design a blueprint of how we can more comprehensively support healthy, happy, thriving families.
Our Approach
We work with cohorts of families across the country—varied in their backgrounds and makeup—that experience financial insecurity and have children under six. Together, we explore what it would mean for their families to thrive and the resources necessary to get there. This begins with an in-person co-design workshop, in English and Spanish. For the next 18 months, the families engage with the Lab through a remote digital diary study, offering insights into the joys and challenges of raising young children.
Many families experience the same ups and downs of parenting. In raising children, there is much more that connects us than sets us apart.
What We’ve Learned
Social connection profoundly impacts families’ ability to thrive. Social and community support networks provide families with key material, informational, and emotional support as they navigate the daily realities of raising young children. Families with weaker networks are less likely to learn about available services and more likely to be overwhelmed by the process when they do.
“We also consider the teachers and those here [at Head Start] like family. They have supported me a lot through [my children’s] education and development. We, as mothers, learn more from the programs, how to better support our children, how to take better care of them. And that is who I consider my family. All the people who support us, especially us as an immigrant family.”
“I usually ask for help from my sisters. There are three of us, and the three of us support each other. We all have the same level of education. We don’t know much. Sometimes I look for information on Google, but I feel embarrassed to ask more people for help.”
Governments can better support families by recognizing the outsized role of social connection in their ability to find or access services. Policy design and delivery should prioritize greater visibility for formal systems. Social benefit programs should also more explicitly call for enhancing social connection as a stated goal.
Safety and security are highly valued among families in our study. Participants reported multiple threats to feeling safe and secure, from community violence to financial precarity and challenges meeting their families’ basic needs. Participants describe how these pervasive feelings of insecurity influence financial, physical, and social mobility. They have ideas, big and small, about ways to improve feelings of security for themselves and their kids. And they explain how hard it is to reach for the next rung of the ladder when it’s taking everything they have not to fall off.
“What I don’t like is that they don’t have sidewalks for pedestrians in most of the area and it makes me feel unsafe to go for a walk with my children on the street where there’s traffic.”
“What don’t I like about where I am? I can actually write a book [about] the crimes/murders/drugs on every corner. I can’t even let my son come outside and play because shots are always going off. I’m really trying my best to get out of here but financially I can’t as of right now. FOR NOW.”
“My ideal work situation would be something that I could set my own hours so that I could be home with my children when they are not in school…I need to finish school to get my nursing degree and eventually my masters in midwifery and this could allow me to work the hours I mostly choose.”
“I don’t want to be falling behind in anything, especially something that would benefit me or benefit my children. I really don’t want to be falling behind.”
Child care is top of mind. Families shared that their child care options and decisions are largely influenced by factors that are financial, logistical (e.g., location, operating hours), and social (e.g., trust, curriculum, cultural values). The cost and the lack of affordable options—were mentioned as deterrents to formal child care. Parents seek to pursue new skills, returning to school, completing training programs, or even having time for social connection with other adults, but a prerequisite is trusted care with extended hours. Parents shared that trust is a first-order criteria in their child care decision-making and hugely influential when their usual source of care is unavailable.
“I do not have a daycare. It’s too expensive, but I have my mom who watches the kids for me and does not charge me at all thank God.”
“For me, it is very important that my child is educated in an environment where everyone’s opinion is seen as important and valued.”
“I don’t trust taking [my children] to any daycare center. I tried to take my daughter and I only had her there for 1 week because there were only 2 teachers for 12 children and they couldn’t attend to everyone’s needs.”
“When I have no other option], I leave them with my friend since she is the only one who I trust with my children… and she leaves her children with me since she doesn’t trust anyone else.”
Next Steps
The Minnesota and Pennsylvania diary studies concluded in fall 2024, and we are launching the next family cohort in October 2024 in New Mexico, which will run through spring 2026. Our team is processing insights from Minnesota and Pennsylvania, as well as reflecting on lessons learned from our methodology, and we are seeking creative and useful ways to share these insights, as well as resources and templates for how to do work in this way. We will build on topic-specific takeaways like our Greater Connection brief, such as a deeper dive into safety and security concerns discussed by families.
