This report helps state and local decision makers understand the range of services ordinarily needed and provided in alcohol and drug treatment programs serving women and families receiving welfare and how those services support the goals of welfare reform. The model programs profiled here tend to the needs of women on welfare and their families…

This article details a consensus-building initiative to develop a statewide research agenda responding to needs of Illinois's child welfare community. Researchers conducted this process through a university-community partnership to engage those interested in child welfare services, and produced a document to guide child welfare research throughout…

Recent changes in welfare policy have produced changes in parental work and welfare receipt. These factors are assessed in relation to investigated reports of child abuse and neglect using survey data on 1998 welfare recipients in nine Illinois counties, in conjunction with longitudinal administrative data on cash welfare benefits, employment, and…

This report examines the use of child care vouchers in January 1998 by Illinois and Maryland families who were current or former recipients of cash assistance; also examined are changes between January 1997 and January 1998 in voucher use by children who were ever connected to cash assistance. Information was obtained through administrative data…

This special report reviews key aspects of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and its implications for Illinois. The report describes the major stipulations in the federal welfare bill and summarizes the impact on Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); food stamp, child care, Medicaid, and…

This report is the third to document the condition of children in the state of Illinois and the performance of the policies and programs designed to serve them over the past decade. One of the main themes emerging from the findings is the increasing diversity of the Illinois child population, in terms of both racial and ethnic groups and the…

Presents a case study of the development of kinship care policy in Illinois due to court decisions regarding the provision of financial support to relatives acting as foster parents. Compares recent reform of kinship care policies in Illinois with welfare reform efforts across the country and their national implications. (SD)

This Kids Count report examines statewide trends in the well-being of Illinois' children, focusing on the impact of federal and state welfare reform. The statistical portrait is based on 14 indicators of well-being: (1) families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; (2) child support enforcement; (3) children enrolled in Head Start or…

This Kids Count report examines statewide trends in the well-being of Illinois' children, focusing on the impact of communities on children. The statistical portrait is based on 14 indicators of well-being: (1) uninsured children; (2) infant mortality; (3) low birth weight; (4) violent death and injury; (5) early childhood education; (6) high…

This Kids Count report examines statewide trends in the well-being of Illinois' children. The statistical portrait is based on indicators in the areas of family, education and child care, arts and recreation, safety, health, and economic security. The indicators are: (1) percent of children living in poverty; (2) number of children enrolled in…

This Kids Count data book examines statewide trends in the well-being of Illinois' children. The statistical portrait is based on 24 indicators in the areas of family, health, safety, education, and economic security. The indicators are: (1) living arrangements for children; (2) teen births; (3) children in foster/substitute care; (4) foster…