Welfare reforms, family resources, and child maltreatment

Reardon, two anonymous referees, and the editor for helpful comments. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policy of any of the sponsors or related agencies. ABSTRACTA central theme of welfare reform is recipients are required to engage in work activities. In many states these work requirements apply to mothers whose children are a few months old, potentially increasing the costs and decreasing the prevalence of breastfeeding. Given the substantial benefits of breastfeeding, any reduction represents an important negative consequence of these requirements. Our results suggest that, in the absence of welfare reform, the national breastfeeding rate six months after birth would have been 5.5% higher in 2000. Such negative consequences of these policies must be weighed against potential benefits as states refine their welfare programs.

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“…1 Two exceptions are Paxson and Waldfogel (2003) who examine child abuse and neglect and Meyer and Sullivan (2001) who examine consumption.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare work requirements and child well-being: Evidence from the effects on breast-feeding

2003

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“…Some studies have compared CPS involvement between pre-and post-welfare reform periods and across different welfare programs (Fein & Lee, 2003;Geen, et al, 2001;Goerge & Lee, 2000;Paxson & Waldfogel, 2003;Wells, Guo, Shafran, & Pearlmutter, 2003). It has been reported that CPS caseloads significantly increased after welfare reform and that foster care entry rates among children from welfare families rose in the first year of full implementation of a state's welfare reform program (Goerge & Lee, 2000).…”

Section: Welfare Work and Involvement With Cps: Current Empirical Knmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One study showed that the rate of reported neglect was significantly higher among a group that faced strict work requirements and harsher penalty rules than among a group enrolled in a traditional welfare program (Fein & Lee, 2003). State-level analyses reported that the level of substantiated child maltreatment and the number of children in out-of-home care were higher in states with strict lifetime welfare limits and harsher penalty rules than in states with less strict rules (Paxson & Waldfogel, 2003). These studies suggest that welfare reform rules, especially work requirements and strict penalties, may increase welfare recipients' risk of being involved with CPS.…”

Section: Welfare Work and Involvement With Cps: Current Empirical Knmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare recipients’ involvement with child protective services after welfare reform

Nam

Meezan

Danziger

2006

Child Abuse & Neglect

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Objective-This study identifies factors associated with child protective services (CPS) involvement among current and former welfare recipients after welfare reform legislation was passed in the US in 1996.Method-Data come from the Women's Employment Study, a longitudinal study of randomly selected welfare recipients living in a Michigan city in 1997 (N = 541). In order to identify risk factors for CPS involvement among current and former welfare recipients, multinomial logit analyses with 29 independent variables were employed on a trichotomous dependent variable: no CPS involvement, investigation only, and supervision by CPS after investigation. Results-The relationship between work and involvement with CPS differs by work experience prior to welfare reform. As the percentage of months working after welfare reform increased, the risk of being investigated by CPS declined among those with prior work experience but the risk increased among those without prior work experience. However, work variables were not significant predictors of supervision by CPS after an initial investigation. Further, race, cohabitation, childhood welfare receipt, having a learning disability, having a large number of children, being newly divorced, living in a high problem neighborhood, and being convicted of a crime were associated with one's probability of being either investigated or supervised by CPS.Conclusions-These findings suggest that employment could have increased the stress levels of current or former welfare recipients without prior work experience to the point where they were prone to minor child rearing mistakes that resulted in a CPS investigation, but were not severe enough to warrant opening the case for supervision. Supports should be provided to welfare mothers who are prone to involvement with CPS; expansions in the childcare subsidy and a reduction or delay in work requirements might also help these families.

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“…9 Several studies have reported associations between economic factors and maltreatment rates at the neighborhood and community levels. [12][13][14][15] Recently, a retrospective study of children admitted to 38 hospitals between 2000 and 2009 showed that rates of admissions for physical abuse and high-risk traumatic brain injury were significantly related to increases in local mortgage foreclosure and delinquency rates in the associated metropolitan areas. 16 Although there is considerable evidence that income inequality has a negative impact on health and wellbeing for both adults and children, and that poverty is associated with rates of child maltreatment, no study has examined the association of income inequality with child maltreatment.…”

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confidence: 99%

Income Inequality and Child Maltreatment in the United States

Eckenrode

Smith

McCarthy³

et al. 2014

Pediatrics

203

100

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WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Income inequality is positively associated with several adverse child health and well-being outcomes. There is no existing research investigating the relationship between income inequality and child maltreatment rates. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:This study is the first to demonstrate that increases in income inequality are associated with increases in child maltreatment rates at the county level. abstract OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation between county-level income inequality and rates of child maltreatment. METHODS:Data on substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect from 2005 to 2009 were obtained from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. County-level data on income inequality and children in poverty were obtained from the American Community Survey. Data for additional control variables were obtained from the American Community Survey and the Health Resources and Services Administration Area Resource File. The Gini coefficient was used as the measure of income inequality. Generalized additive models were estimated to explore linear and nonlinear relations among income inequality, poverty, and child maltreatment. In all models, state was included as a fixed effect to control for statelevel differences in victim rates.RESULTS: Considerable variation in income inequality and child maltreatment rates was found across the 3142 US counties. Income inequality, as well as child poverty rate, was positively and significantly correlated with child maltreatment rates at the county level. Controlling for child poverty, demographic and economic control variables, and state-level variation in maltreatment rates, there was a significant linear effect of inequality on child maltreatment rates (P , .0001). This effect was stronger for counties with moderate to high levels of child poverty. CONCLUSIONS:Higher income inequality across US counties was significantly associated with higher county-level rates of child maltreatment. The findings contribute to the growing literature linking greater income inequality to a range of poor health and well-being outcomes in infants and children. Pediatrics 2014;133:454-461

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Welfare reforms, family resources, and child maltreatment

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Cited by 136 publications

References 18 publications

Welfare work requirements and child well-being: Evidence from the effects on breast-feeding

Welfare work requirements and child well-being: Evidence from the effects on breast-feeding

Welfare recipients’ involvement with child protective services after welfare reform

Income Inequality and Child Maltreatment in the United States

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