Children and Families

Governors and state leaders play a critical role in the protection and support of vulnerable children, families, and individuals. The Children and Families (C&F) team provides timely and individualized state-focused technical assistance to Governors, their human services policy advisors, and state agency leadership so they can improve policies and systems that will allow children, families, and communities to reach their full potential. With an emphasis on helping States develop opportunities and policies that support all communities, the C&F team aids Governors to advance and fulfill their vision for the children and families in their states.

Our Focus Areas

Whole-family approaches to serving children and families
Youth mental health
Early childhood education and care
Integrated data and delivery systems for human services programs
Food insecurity, nutrition, and hunger abatement
Reducing barriers to opportunity and economic mobility

Family economic security and anti-poverty solutions
Foster care, kinship, and adoption
Child abuse prevention and treatment
Juvenile justice
Housing and homelessness

Meet The Team

Jordan Hynes
Program Director
Jess Kirchner
Senior Policy Analyst
Eli McCabe
Senior Policy Analyst
Ekaan Ahmad
Policy Coordinator

Major Initiatives

Policy Academy on Strengthening Youth Mental Health

This Policy Academy builds on the 2023 Chair’s Initiative on Strengthening Youth, Led by Governor Murphy of New Jersey. NGA will support up to 6 states in intensive technical assistance and strategic planning to implement theChair’s Initiative Playbook through 4 main policy pillars:

Prevention and Resilience
Increasing Awareness and Reducing Stigma
Access and Affordability of Quality Treatment and Care
Caregiver and Educator Training and Support

NGA Child Care Community of Practice (CoP):

The National Governors Association convenes this CoP for Governors’ policy advisors and agency representatives, which serves as a forum for open discussion and brainstorming about child care delivery at the state/territory level. NGA’s Child Care CoP convenes virtually on an ad-hoc basis with opportunities for peer-to-peer sharing, identifying best practices, and hearing from national partners and experts. The CoP is an open group for advisors and agency representatives focused on identifying opportunities under the Governors’ purview to improve child care in their states.

Children & Families Core Advisors Board

The NGA Children and Families Team established the Core Advisors Board (CAB) to provide feedback on governors’ top priorities impacting the lives of children and families. Each year, a small group of governors’ human services policy advisors and agency leaders are selected to provide critical input and feedback on the structure and content of the NGA Center’s work with the states on human services and early childhood education and care issues.

Human Services Policy Advisor Institute

The Human Services Policy Advisors Institute is a network of governors’ policy advisors and state leaders from social services and children and family-serving agencies that comes together on a monthly call to share innovations and best practices for serving the complex needs of children and families. This network serves as a regular check-in for updates, content, peer-to-peer exchanges, and networking for policy advisors to discuss multidisciplinary policy considerations. Recent topics include: Human Services Workforce; Integrating Eligibility Screening Systems; and Supporting Older Populations.

Children and Families Library

Marketing, Outreach, and Creative Funding for SNAP E&T

Last month the SNAP E&T Policy Academy held a webinar to look at marketing, outreach, and creative funding for SNAP E&T programs. (Download Slides) States and territories continue to prioritize ...

States Sound Alarm over Ongoing SNAP Threats

Governors and coalition of local, county, state organizations urge Congressional fix Washington, D.C. – Changes in funding policies for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP), combined with disruptions caused by ...

Local, State Coalition Presses Congress for Urgent SNAP Fix

Officials on the frontlines of SNAP benefits administration across the nation are warning Congress about a little-known legislative provision with a huge impact on state budgets – an impact supercharged ...

State Leadership: Governors Work to Sustain Food Assistance

Governors and their teams stepped up to provide crucial support and safeguard the well-being of their communities during the 43 days of the 2025 federal shutdown. The shutdown demonstrated Governors’ ...

NGA Joins Coalition Letter Outlining SNAP Recommendations

(Download) The Honorable Mike JohnsonSpeakerU.S. House of Representatives The Honorable Hakeem JeffriesMinority LeaderU.S. House of Representatives The Honorable John ThuneMajority LeaderU.S. Senate The Honorable Chuck SchumerMinority LeaderU.S. Senate Dear Speaker ...