In order to meet the needs of kids and families, many states offer a variety of programs from medical services, nutrition programs, child care, and emergency supports. Although all the programs apply to families and children, the services can be hard to access since they are housed across different departments, cabinets, and websites. 

In order to increase efficiency, and make access easier for families of young children, states are looking outside the box and finding ways to streamline services through Children’s Cabinets.

What is a Children’s Cabinet?

A Children’s Cabinet is a cross-agency collaborative that is composed of agencies specifically focused on supporting children and families. Each state’s Children’s Cabinet is slightly different, but they typically contain the agencies that support early education, child care, human services, child welfare, family support programs, medical and behavioral health, and juvenile justice.  These cabinets are composed with a nonpartisan emphasis in order to continue collaboration as state administrations change.

What is the Purpose of a Children’s Cabinet?

The goal of a Children’s Cabinet is to improve outcomes for children and families. States vary in how broad or targeted they define the purpose of their cabinets, but some commonly listed purposes include:

  • Increase efficiency of government programs serving children and families.
  • Improve children’s education outcomes.
  • Improve children’s health outcomes.
  • Reduce the number of children in out-of-home care.
  • Create opportunities for more successful communities.
  • Ensure all children have access to the resources they need to grow up healthy and happy.

What are the Responsibilities of a Children’s Cabinet?

Although each state with a Children’s Cabinet has a slightly different focus, the typical cabinet responsibilities may include:

  • Establishing a strategic plan to guide the state’s policies regarding children and families.
  • Making policy and budget recommendations to the governor and general assembly for children’s programs.
  • Blending funding streams from different agencies to maximize resources for children and their families.
  • Collecting data on program outcomes to measure effectiveness.
  • Providing technical assistance to state and local communities utilizing the cabinet programs.
  • Applying for and supervising federal, state, and philanthropic grants to support the cabinet’s programs.
  • Supervising the individual agencies within the cabinet to maintain maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

Who is the Leader of the Children’s Cabinet?

There are two primary models of children’s cabinet leadership.  In some states, such as West Virginia, the Governor serves as the Chair of the Children’s Cabinet. The more common model is that the Governor appoints someone to serve as the cabinet Secretary. The appointee may be the Lt. Governor, like in New Mexico, another state official, like the Secretary of Public Welfare that serves in Pennsylvania, or it could be an outside stakeholder, like the Chief Operating Officer of the Children’s Service League that serves in Kansas. 

Along with the executive leadership of the children’s cabinet, it is also crucial to consider the cabinet’s membership. Although the primary purpose of the cabinet may be to organize state agencies, it can be important to have private stakeholders involved in the cabinet leadership, particularly individuals that are considered content experts in their field. These stakeholders may have authority over other community resources, in partnership with the state agencies, and have an impact on programs for children and families.

What are the Benefits of a Children’s Cabinet?

When states with Children’s Cabinets were surveyed about the benefits the cabinets provided, the list included:

  • Less duplication of services within agencies and confusion over programs offered
  • Data sharing agreements between agencies within the cabinet
  • Improved efficiency and service delivery effectiveness
  • Alignment of funding in order to successfully use investments to benefit families
  • Statewide shared goals for children and families
  • Increased collaboration to improve access for children and families

How to Create a Children’s Cabinet?

There have been three primary methods of initially creating a Children’s Cabinet within state government:

  • The governor can establish the Children’s Cabinet through executive order.
  • The governor can establish the cabinet through executive order but partner with the legislature to codify the cabinet into law.
  • The governor can partner with the legislature to create the cabinet through legislation.

Once the cabinet has been established, it is crucial to determine the leadership style and the membership of the cabinet, including potential board members and what agencies will be part of the cabinet. The membership will then need to establish the vision and goals of the cabinet to guide both policy recommendations and budget requests.  As the cabinet begins operation, a strategic plan and a method of tracking outcomes will also be essential.

What about a Children’s Cabinet in Kentucky?

Although Kentucky currently has services for children spread throughout many different government agencies, there has been an effort to simplify service access for families, like through the Kynect system. 

Kentucky can take a next step to evaluate and streamline essential children’s services and bring those under the same umbrella within a Children’s Cabinet. This next step, already taken by states like Kansas, Louisiana, and New Mexico, would bring Kentucky one step closer to being the best place in America to be young.