Strategies

Provide financial assistance to working parents, or parents attending school, to pay for child care

Use specialized courts to offer criminal offenders with drug dependency problems an alternative to adjudication or incarceration

Expand refundable earned income tax credits for working individuals and families with low to moderate incomes

Use specialized courts to work with parents involved in the child welfare system who may lose custody of their children due to substance abuse

Adopt policies that allow custodial parents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to collect all child support paid by the non-custodial parent; no portion is retained by the state

Increase the lowest hourly, daily, or monthly compensation that employers may legally pay to workers

Provide sterile injection equipment and often other treatment and referral services to people who inject drugs; also called needle or syringe exchange programs and needle syringe programs