Resources for parents

Alabama offers support programs to parents regardless of income, such as the First Teacher Home Visiting program, and also offers universal pre-K, however it lacks ESAs empowering education freedom.

The only program available to parents regardless of income our team found in Alaska is the Alaska Early Intervention Infant Learning Program, which provides disability screening—but not support—for infants.

Arizona is one of the most supportive states in the USA when it comes to parent support, offering Empowerment Scholarship Accounts empowering true school choice as well as a myriad of other programs to parents regardless of income, including First Things First and programs for students with disabilities.

While Arkansas offers an ESA program, the Arkansas Children's Educational Freedom Account Program, it is not universally available to all school-aged kids in the state and the only other program available to children regardless of family income is a vaccine support program (Vaccines for Children).

California appears to offer no programs to parents regardless of income (aside from limited school choice related to magnet programs and charter schools, which only helps students in some districts). We did our best to beef up our California state guide with scholarship information to make up for this.

Though Colorado lacks an ESA program, it offers programs to parents regardless of income above and beyond programs assisting children with disabilities, such as universal preschool and Parents Encouraging Parents (PEP). Colorado also offers more flexibility to families with public school choice than many other states.

Connecticut offers more parental leave support to parents than most other states (via the Connecticut Family and Medical Paid Leave program) and also offers limited school choice in addition to other programs available to parents regardless of income level (though no ESAs).

While Delaware offers several programs to parents (in addition to non-income-gated disability assistance programs) regardless of income level, they're mostly relevant to low-income families (e.g. food and vaccine assistance).

Florida offers two Education Savings Account programs: one for students with disabilities and one for all students (though low-income students are prioritized, these accounts have been offered to over 3 million students). Florida also offers universal pre-K to four-year-old children in addition to some other helpful programs.

Georgia offers limited school choice (though not ESAs, meaning your options will vary depending on what your local options are) as well as universal pre-K to four-year-old children and other not-limited-by-income programs beyond those supporting children with disabilities.

While Hawaii does offer vaccines to children whose insurance doesn't cover it, as well as limited free transportation (with the Hele-on Bus Service), to children regardless of family income level (plus services for children with disabilities), the state does not offer ESAs.

The only supportive program our team could find beyond free vaccines for children whose insurance doesn't cover them that is available to parents regardless of income is a screening program for potential disabilities.

Illinois provides only programs to children with disabilities (Early Intervention and Illinois' Support Waiver for Children and Young Adults with Developmental Disabilities) to families regardless of income; everything else our team could find is limited to low-income families only.

Although Indiana offers an ESA program (Indiana's Education Scholarship Account Program), it is only available to children with disabilities (as is Indiana's First Steps program, which provides early intervention services). All other services our team found are limited to low-income families only.

Iowa offers the Education Savings Account Program, which is available to all students, enabling maximum education freedom. In addition to early intervention programs, some of Iowa's programs that in other states are income gated, such as the Emergency Food Assistance and Summer Food Service Programs, are available to all regardless of income.

The only program Kansas offers to parents regardless of income (beyond the Vaccines for Children Program (VFC), which provides vaccine access to children whose insurance doesn't cover it), is an early intervention program for young children with disabilities.

Kentucky's only program available to parents regardless of income (that our team could find) is Help Me Grow Kentucky, a call center offering developmental screening and connections to local services and learning activities that support healthy growth for children from birth to age 5.

Louisiana offers an early intervention program to families with children who may have (and are subsequently diagnosed with) disabilities called Early Steps, though beyond Early Steps, the only program available to all families independent of income is a vaccine program.

Beyond an early intervention program for children with disabilities (Child Development Services), the state offers Help Me Grow (HMG) Maine, an information line linking families and professionals to information about child development, pregnancy, and community resources for children all over Maine up to the age of eight years old.

Maryland offers programs to parents with children of disability regardless of income, including Maryland Infants and Toddlers Program and Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), however beyond that, the only non-income-gated resources available to parents in the state that our team could find are a vaccine assistance program and a car seat assistance program (and there's an argument to be made that even when car seat assistance is provided, states with cumbersome car seat regulation are causing more lives to not exist than saving lives).

The programs Massachusetts provides above and beyond early intervention (which is nevertheless appreciated) are limited in their utility (vaccine availability, caregiver advice and information), earning this state a lackluster grade.

Beyond early intervention programs for children with disabilities, Michigan offers Home Visiting Programs, connecting parents with trained professionals in their homes who can provide counsel on matters ranging from pregnancy to child development.

All middle school students in Minnesota (at participating schools) are eligible for free lunches, however this is the only program available to all children in the state (that our team could find) above and beyond programs for children with disabilities.

Mississippi does not (to our team's knowledge) offer programs to all families regardless of income aside from those related to children and people with disabilities (aside from a vaccine assistance program), however one of the benefits available to children with disabilities includes an education savings account program (the Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Program).

In addition to early intervention programs for children with disabilities, Missouri offers Missouri's Parent Education Program, a voluntary program educating and connecting parents-to-be with their local schools and community, though that's it (aside from a vaccine program).

Though Montana has an ESA program, it is only available at present to students with special needs who meet the federal definition of a "child with disabilities" under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The state appears to offer no other programs to parents regardless of income (early intervention or otherwise).

While the Opportunity Scholarships Act isn't an ESA, it still empowers Nebraskan families with more school choice than many other states. The Nebraska Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (N-MIECHV) program offers home visits to families with children under 5 that feature counseling, activities, referrals, and more. Furthermore, Nebraska's food banks are available to anyone who may want to use them and some districts offer free transport to kids.

Nevada only offers vaccine assistance above and beyond non-income-gated early intervention programs for children with disabilities (Nevada Act Early and Project Assist), earning this state a low grade.

While New Hampshire offers ESAs (called Education Freedom Accounts), they are presently only available to low-income families. Beyond early intervention for children with disabilities, the only resource made available in New Hampshire to parents regardless of income is a vaccine program.

New Jersey's Family Help Line (a health advice line) and Federally Qualified Health Centers assist all patients regardless of status or income. The state also offers a medical expenses relief fund to families facing catastrophic health expenses when they take up more than 10% of a family's annual income. The state also offers free preschool to all four-year-old kids, however the state's early intervention programs are not available to all regardless of income.

Our team was not able to find any programs in New Mexico that provided services to parents regardless of income level. This ranks New Mexico at the bottom of all states in the US when it comes to pronatalism and family support.

In addition to rather beefed-up services for families with children who have disabilities, New York offers some additional notable amenities, such as free Student MetroCards enabling students to travel for school and education-related activities on the NYC Metro for free.

In addition to early intervention programs assisting families with children who have special needs, North Carolina is one of the few states that offers Education Savings Accounts for students, however only students who meet the federal definition of a "child with disabilities" under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) qualify.

Our team was unable to find any programs offered by the state of North Dakota to parents and families with children regardless of income level (all programs are for low-income families only). This makes North Dakota one of the most desolate states in the USA for parents.

As of the close of 2023, Ohio's resources to parents and families regardless of income level are somewhat spare (only the Help Me Grow program is available to all—it's an early intervention program for children who may have disabilities).

In addition to SoonerStart, the state's early intervention program for families with children with special needs, Oklahoma offers universal pre-K for all four-year-old children in the state.

Though Oregon's programs for families regardless of income are pretty spare, the state does offer two early intervention programs regardless of income level: Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education and Children's Intensive In-Home Services.

Beyond early intervention services, the state of Pennsylvania offers some additional programs to families regardless of income, such as the Nurse-Family Partnership, which involves supportive home visits to families with pregnant parents and/or kids under two years old.

Rhode Island families (regardless of income) are welcome to leverage the state's Office of Family Visiting program, which involves virtual and in-person visits to parents and caregivers who could use some support and advice, however that's it when it comes to programs in the state available to all (our team found no free early intervention programs).

South Carolina offers no programs to families regardless of income—not even early intervention programs for families with children who may have disabilities (at least that our team could find). The state does offer an ESA program enabling school choice (the South Carolina Education Scholarship Trust Fund Program), however it is only available to low-income families.

Our team was unfortunately unable to find any programs in South Dakota available to parents regardless of income (should you be aware of something we missed, please contact us or suggest an edit directly in the linked Google Doc).

The only program Tennessee offers to all families regardless of income is the Child Care Resource and Referral Centers (free child care location and counseling services located in communities across the state). The state does offer ESAs empowering education freedom, but only to children with disabilities.

Beyond early intervention programs, including a program for autistic children (the Children's Autism Project), Texas offers a few additional programs to parents regardless of income level, including the Texas Home Visiting Program (THV), which provides counseling/informational/educational visits to families.

Parents in Utah have access to Help Me Grow Utah, an information and referral hotline helping families who are pregnant or caring for children under eight. While the state has a scholarship-based school choice program (Utah Fits All Scholarship Program) it is not universally available and low-income families are prioritized. The state does not appear to have early intervention programs available to all.

In addition to early intervention programs, Vermont offers free, universal pre-K to three, four, and five-year-old kids to parents regardless of income level, as well as Parent Child Centers and Strong Families Vermont Home Visiting, which support families through home visits, playgroups, and parent education.

Though Virginia does not have an early intervention program for children with disabilities, its CCC+ Waiver program provides funds for families who prefer to care for a child with disabilities from the comfort of home instead of in a facility and the state also provides a few free public transport programs for children.

Beyond a vaccine program for uninsured children (or children whose insurance does not cover vaccines), Washington appears to offer no services (so far as our team could find) to families regardless of their level of income.

In addition to early intervention programs for children with disabilities, all families in West Virginia have access to a variety of additional programs, such as the West Virginia Infant/Toddler Specialists Network and universal pre-K for all children aged four.

In addition to early intervention programs (Birth to 3 Program and The Katie Beckett Program, which provides health care coverage for children younger than age 19 with long-term disabilities or complex medical needs who live with their family), Wisconsin offers a vaccine program for uninsured and underinsured students, however our team was unable to find programs available to all families above and beyond these.

The Wyoming Child Support Program—the only program in the state available to all families regardless of income—only provides referrals and advice, making this state light on the parent services front.