3 min
Raising an infant or toddler requires time, care, and financial resources, often while families are stretching their budgets to cover groceries, housing, child care, and other everyday needs. State policies help determine whether families have them. During the past year, states expanded paid leave, tax credits, wages, perinatal health services, and child care assistance. These changes can help thousands of families during the earliest years of a child’s life. The 2026 Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap, released by the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt University, tracks those changes and explains what they mean for families. Delaware, Maine, and Minnesota began providing statewide paid family and medical leave programs, making paid leave a leading area of state momentum in 2026. Approximately 84,300 babies are born each year across those three states. The programs are funded through payroll contributions, with each state setting its own rules for whether and how employers and workers divide the cost. For parents who previously had no paid leave, the new programs can mean recovering from childbirth and spending up to 12 weeks with their baby without sacrificing all their income. Pennsylvania newly implemented the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit, a refundable state earned income tax credit equal to 10 percent of the federal credit. For an eligible Pennsylvania family with two children, the new credit can provide up to $731 annually, helping to cover everyday expenses, including groceries, diapers, and child care. This progress comes during a period of significant federal change. New requirements affecting Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, along with other federal actions affecting early care and education programs, may make health coverage, food assistance, and child care harder for some families to access. Against this backdrop, state policy decisions take on greater importance because they can expand resources and services even as families encounter new barriers. “Families do not experience paid leave, minimum wage, health care, and child care in isolation. Together, these policies create a system of care that can help families meet their children’s needs during the most important years of development. This year’s Roadmap shows states continuing to strengthen that system, even in a complex policy environment.” -Dr. Cynthia Osborne, Executive Director and Professor of Early Childhood Education and Policy at Vanderbilt University State action extended beyond those four milestones. Minimum wages increased in 23 states, increasing pay for workers earning the state minimum. Four states began covering community-based doula services through Medicaid, giving more families the option of care before, during, and after birth. Other states invested in group prenatal care, newborn screening, and connections to health and community services. States also confronted one of the greatest pressures facing families with young children: finding and affording child care. Changes to child care subsidy programs allowed more families to qualify, lowered what some parents pay, and directed additional funding to providers working to keep care available. Together, these changes show states responding to the pressures families face all at once. A stronger system of care can give parents more time with a new baby, help families cover everyday costs, improve access to care before and after birth, and make child care easier to find and afford. About the 2026 Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap The Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap guides state leaders on the most effective investments to ensure all children thrive from the start. Grounded in rigorous evidence, the Roadmap identifies state policies and strategies that support infants, toddlers, and their families and reduce disparities in access and outcomes. Explore the 2026 Roadmap at pn3policy.org/roadmap. About the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center is a nonpartisan research center at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development that provides state leaders with clear, evidence-based policy solutions to improve the lives of young children and their families. For more information, visit pn3policy.org.
