Reports and Fact Sheets

Supporting Success for Pennsylvania’s Students in Foster Care: Data, Outcomes, and Stories from the Field analyzes, for the first time, data on educational outcomes for children and youth in out-of-home care. Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC) and the Education Law Center-PA (ELC) identify policy recommendations to improve educational outcomes for these students based on data and research, coupled with insights drawn from case examples and consultations with education liaisons directly involved in the system.

Older youth in foster care, aged 14-21, are embarking on a journey to adulthood, transitioning out of the foster care system and onto self-sufficiency. Despite the numerous challenges they face, including trauma and adverse experiences from their childhood and adolescence, often exacerbated by child welfare system involvement, these youth demonstrate remarkable resilience. Their transition from adolescence to adulthood is a pivotal period, and the support and resources they receive significantly influence their success post-foster care. 

A new report from ReadyNation shows the cost of gaps in Pennsylvania’s child care system has grown by almost $1 billion annually, costing the state’s economy well over $6 billion every year. The analysis finds that inadequate child care is driving major losses for working parents, employers, and taxpayers alike, underscoring how deeply child care challenges affect Pennsylvania’s workforce and economic strength.  

At a time when employers need a reliable workforce and families need dependable care, this report makes clear that child care is not just a family issue, but an economic one. The findings highlight the urgent need for solutions to help parents find and afford child care so they can work, as well as for a stable, robust child care system that supports the economy and strengthens Pennsylvania’s long-term prosperity.

High-quality early childhood education like Head Start is a powerful means of preparing children for school and life success, free of the pitfalls of juvenile delinquency and crime.

Pennsylvania’s comprehensive early care and education system spans the formative years of a child, birth-to-age-5, and provides an opportunity to ensure our youngest citizens are starting out on the right track. This report takes a deeper look into the complexities within
Pennsylvania’s child care and pre-k system and makes recommendations on improvements that are necessary to ensure the system functions equitably and increases access and affordability for all families in the commonwealth.

To best understand the landscape of CTE, including identifying concrete policy solutions, we need to look at the data on participation and program and student outcomes in Pennsylvania. For the first time, PPC is sharing a new analysis of CTE data provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. For this report, data is for the 2022-23 school year. The data show that increased, sustained state investments are critical to CTE growth and the ability to meet students’ needs.

Children need access to nutrition for their growing bodies and minds to be healthy and develop as they should. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a critical component in ensuring infants and toddlers, as well as pregnant and postpartum mothers, have access to healthy nutrition. See WIC coverage rates statewide and at the county level.

Pennsylvania’s county-level Infant and Toddler Early Intervention (EI) fact sheets highlight how Part C services are reaching children from birth to age three with developmental delays or a high likelihood of delay in communities across the commonwealth. Because a child’s brain develops most rapidly in the first five years, access to timely, local EI services is critical. These fact sheets provide a closer look at county data and impact, reinforcing that investing early leads to stronger outcomes for children, families, and communities well into the future.

This fact sheet outlines the findings and recommendations from the OCDEL Rate Study, emphasizing the need for increased investment and systematic updates to Pennsylvania’s Infant and Toddler Early Intervention (EI) program to address underfunding, workforce shortages, and rising service costs.

Home visiting programs have benefits that extend well beyond the family. These high-quality programs, especially for parents facing challenging circumstances, may improve public safety by preventing children’s future involvement in crime, increasing academic achievement, and helping to reduce the use of substances such as opioids in the long run. They can also strengthen the economy by fostering families’ economic independence and helping children become productive adults. When parents are connected to the resources available through voluntary home visiting, entire communities can benefit.

At Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, our goal is for every child to have health insurance that provides regular access to quality medical care for physical and mental health. Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) play a crucial role in keeping kids covered and healthy in every community across Pennsylvania from our rural communities to large cities. Through these options, 47% of Pennsylvania kids have access to preventive care like well check-ups and vaccinations, and to ongoing care for chronic conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes, depression, or autism. The three fact sheets in this series show enrollment by Congressional, state House, and state Senate district.

The 2025 State of Children’s Health Insurance report analyzes the latest public data on children’s health insurance. This timeframe captures the final six months (January-June 2024) of the Medicaid unwinding or redeterminations process, which resumed renewals following a three-year federal freeze during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Every child should have health insurance and access to quality health care that is necessary for healthy development into adolescence and through adulthood. That care includes immunizations throughout childhood. Routine vaccinations for children are essential to keep them immune from life-threatening diseases before they are exposed. With the back-to-school season upon us, families should prioritize scheduling their children for well-child checkups so they are ready to learn.

Infant and Toddler EI is a program that provides services to children from birth to their third birthday who have a developmental delay or a high probability of having a developmental delay. Also referred to as Part C EI, these services aim to improve outcomes that are critical to a family’s ability to support their child’s health, optimal development, educational success, and lifelong well-being.

Since 2022, the Early Learning Pennsylvania coalition and the Thriving PA campaign have been proud to increase awareness of and foster policymaker support for Infant and Toddler Early Intervention (EI), also known as Part C EI. With a statewide advocacy workgroup convened for the first time, an initial goal was to receive and analyze EI related data from the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL). A formal request was submitted to the state in 2023 for both FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23 Infant and Toddler EI data, and to date, the workgroup has received and analyzed statewide and county-level data specific to the areas of fiscal, eligibility, and enrollment information. 

The physical health and well-being of current service members is vital in supporting military readiness. Likewise, the physical health and well-being of young Americans is vital to the future readiness of the Armed Forces. Ensuring affordable and comprehensive health care access for America’s military families and our next generation is an essential investment in our national security. 

The Childhood Begins at Home campaign released new fact sheets that show the number of young children and their families receiving publicly funded, evidence-based home visiting services statewide and in each county.

Home visiting services help nurture a healthy environment for expectant parents and families with young children by focusing on child development, improving maternal and child health, providing positive parental coaching and guidance, and much more. This brief explores the benefits of the Medicaid Maternal Home Visiting program (MHV) created by DHS four years ago and offers recommendations to the department for further improvement.

Our revamped State of the Child profiles offer a variety of data points about children and families and their well-being in Pennsylvania and all 67 counties, including Population Diversity, Children Living in Poverty, and a variety of Socioeconomic Data. Click on page to see county statistics.