Focusing on the influence of impoverished environments on child outcomes, this Kids Count report examines trends in the well-being of Iowa children. The first section of the report presents an overview essay detailing the presence and location of high risk and moderate risk census tracts in Iowa, based on information from the 2000 Census using…

This book, through a review of the status of working women on bottom and on the top, refutes a set of myths about women, work, and poverty that have shaped welfare reform. Chapter 1 highlights the big changes affecting women in the U.S. economy. Chapter 2 describes who is poor in the United States and examines how poverty has come to be defined.…

With increasing unemployment in the United States, the nation has seen a drop in the percentage of children in poverty with one or more parents in the workforce, a reverse of trends evident in the late 1990s. This research brief presents a statistical snapshot of working poor families with children in 2001. Analyses revealed that in 2001 children…

Part of a series from the Child Care Law Center, this issue of "Working for Change" discusses the need for quality, affordable child care as a support for working parents trying to break out of welfare dependency. This report details the current realities of poor parents who struggle to find and pay for child care while they work and…

This volume is based on papers presented at a conference of social policy experts that looked at the growth in lone-parent families, the problems that have emerged, and their policy implications. Chapter 1 is an "Overview" (Duskin). Three chapters look at demographic trends over time and over the life-cycle; they are: "Demographic…

This hearing, the third of three on welfare reform, focuses on the problem of child support and ways to improve the current system. One child in four now lives with a single parent; these children must receive the support that they are due. The hearings also focused on the problems of unemployed parents, and how the welfare system can help prepare…

This report recounts experiences of 99 single parents in British Columbia and New Brunswick who were offered the opportunity to receive cash payments in addition to their earnings if they left the income assistance (IA) rolls and took full-time jobs. The experiences are from participants of focus groups who were mostly female single parents, about…

The three sections of this document provide: (1) an overview of welfare work requirement policies from 1935 to 1988; (2) a discussion of the education-related provisions included in the Family Support Act of 1988; and (3) a summary of the likely effects of the increasing emphasis on education for welfare recipients. In the first section, the…

This series of hearings, the second of three on welfare reform, focuses on the following legislation: (1) the Family Security Act (S. 1511); (2) child support enforcement bills (S. 1001 and S. 869); and (3) the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Employment and Training Reorganization Act. Among the speakers and witnesses were the following:…

This Kids Count Report details statewide trends in the well-being of Maine's children, with particular focus on child health care access. The statistical portrait is based on a variety of indicators in five areas: (1) child health care access; (2) physical and mental health; (3) community and family environment; (4) social and economic…

This Kids Count fact book describes services that are designed to protect the health, education, and safety of children in each county in Texas. It begins with a brief overview of each service program, describing the services, giving eligibility requirements, and analyzing regional differences in service provision across the state. The overview is…

Transforming the welfare system presents governors with unique opportunities, hard choices, and creative challenges. Change will require continued commitment to welfare, educational reform, and economic development. Governors can improve the status of private citizens and private businesses. The Family Support Act of 1988 signaled major changes in…

This guide explains how to design and implement financial work supports in order to improve family and child well-being. The information provided draws heavily from the study of these three programs that increased employment and earnings while improving employment stability, boosting income, and reducing poverty: Minnesota Family Investment…

With the transformation of the welfare system, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reviewed the employment and training components of 13 of its programs. The evaluation begins with a literature review that identifies these four groups of elements associated with positive outcomes: employment services that have an employment…

The 16 chapters in this five-part book, each by different authors, trace the effects of welfare reform (mandated by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996), upon poor people in rural areas of the United States. The book begins with an introduction called "As the Dust Settles: Welfare Reform and Rural…