This testimony examines the role that affordable child care plays in helping unemployed mothers enter and remain in the workforce, focusing on how current federal programs create service gaps for low-income mothers attempting to work. These are issues needing consideration as consolidation of these programs is weighed as a means of closing these…

This paper presents an overview of the development of child support in America. A review of the English common law from which U.S. laws evolved provides a glimpse into the ways that institutions of marriage and the family were viewed in the 19th century. The development of American law reflects the transformation of family structure by…

Children's poverty rate in the United States, over 20%, exceeds that of all industrialized nations except Australia. This interdisciplinary book examines the impact of changing public policies on children. Section 1 gives a current and historical overview of children in poverty. Sections 2 through 5 address arenas of possible change from policy…