The topics and trends that RAPID has followed for the past two years provide a living record of the pandemic. However, these issues didn’t begin in 2020 and the challenges will remain in the lives of our survey families well after the pandemic has faded into history.

From July to December 2021, millions of American families received monthly payments through an expanded Child Tax Credit. We look back at these stories to explore families’ experiences.

Since the start of the advance Child Tax Credit payments in July 2021, 76% of parents in our national survey report having received the payments. How are the payments affecting families’ financial situations and emotional well‐being?

We asked parents about their understanding of and ability to access CTC payments, whether they expected to receive the payments, and how they were planning to use this new source of income. Here is what they had to say.