The strengths and abilities children develop from infancy through adolescence are crucial for their physical, emotional, and cognitive growth, which in turn help them to achieve success in school and to become responsible, economically self-sufficient, and healthy adults. Capable, responsible, and healthy adults are clearly the foundation of a well-functioning and prosperous society, yet America's future is not as secure as it could be because millions of American children live in families with incomes below the poverty line. A wealth of evidence suggests that a lack of adequate economic resources for families with children compromises these children's ability to grow and achieve adult success, hurting them and the broader society. A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty reviews the research on linkages between child poverty and child well-being, and analyzes the poverty-reducing effects of major assistance programs directed at children and families. This report also provides policy and program recommendations for reducing the number of children living in poverty in the United States by half within 10 years.
Raising Our Children Out of Poverty shows what can be done at the national and local community levels to raise children out of poverty by strengthening families, communities, and social services. br>Based on the April 1998 symposium “Raising Our Children Out of Poverty” at the Saint Louis University School of Social Service, this important book is particularly timely given the prevalence of poverty among children in the United States. Social Work practitioners and other helping advocates will discover chapters discussing the future of foster care, ecumenical housing, collaborative practice in low income communities, fostering resiliency in children, programs that are alternatives to incarceration, and an innovative family support and empowerment program. This important book will help you provide improved services to families and children living in poverty.
This book presents a historical perspective on one of the central components of the U.S. social welfare network--family services--and provides a unique look at the advances this service network has achieved, problems it has confronted, and how it is likely to develop in the future.
Poverty is a social problem and finding solutions requires us to look closely at our social institutions. This book brings together the most recent quantitative and qualitative data to examine the many dimensions of this problem in the United States.--[book cover].
How low-income people cope with the emotional dimensions of poverty Could a lack of close, meaningful social ties be a public—rather than just a private—problem? In Social Poverty, Sarah Halpern-Meekin provides a much-needed window into the nature of social ties among low-income, unmarried parents, highlighting their often-ignored forms of hardship. Drawing on in-depth interviews with thirty-one couples, collected during their participation in a government-sponsored relationship education program called Family Expectations, she brings unprecedented attention to the relational and emotional dimensions of socioeconomic disadvantage. Poverty scholars typically focus on the economic use value of social ties—for example, how relationships enable access to job leads, informal loans, or a spare bedroom.However, Halpern-Meekin introduces the important new concept of “social poverty,” identifying it not just as a derivative of economic poverty, but as its own condition, which also perpetuates poverty. Through a careful and nuanced analysis of the strengths and limitations of relationship classes, she shines a light on the fundamental place of core socioemotional needs in our lives. Engaging and compassionate, Social Poverty highlights a new direction for policy and poverty research that can enrich our understanding of disadvantaged families around the country.
Family Poverty in Diverse Contexts addresses the context of poverty in the United States and focuses on poverty issues that family members must confront as they move through the life course. This edited collection provides a unique perspective that draws together macro and micro research about how poverty affects families throughout their lives, increasing risks and reducing opportunities at every stage. Individual chapters emphasize the context of poverty in the United States, then go on to examine specific life cycle stages and what happens when poverty intersects with family concerns. Contributing authors are respected experts in their fields and represent a broad range of disciplines and perspectives including child development, community health, education, family studies, gerontology, disability, public policy, social work and sociology. Family Poverty in Diverse Contexts includes a range of pedagogical features to enhance learning such as exercises and discussions relating to each chapter, which will encourage readers to think critically and apply the knowledge to their own lives. It will interest students, academics and researchers of sociology, family studies, social work and health as well as other related disciplines.
More than one in five American children live below the poverty line, a proportion that exceeds that of any other advanced nation. Although large numbers of Western European children live with single or unemployed parents, or belong to disadvantaged minorities, they are better shielded from severe deprivation by carefully designed public assistance programs. Saving Our Children from Poverty describes one of the most successful European systems of assistance for families, that of France, and through comparison with American programs offers a valuable guide to improving our own safety net for children and reforming our dysfunctional welfare system. Saving Our Children from Poverty details the array of benefits available to both high- and low-income families in France. Government-run nursery schools provide free, high-quality care for almost all children between the ages of three and six. Children also receive guaranteed medical care under a national health insurance plan. The French system offers married couples most of the same benefits as single parents, and creates strong incentives to seek and hold jobs rather than remain on welfare. A French single mother who chooses to work still receives substantial income supplements, housing assistance, subsidized health care, and access to public child care facilities. In stark contrast, her American counterpart loses most of her cash benefits if she takes a job and receives no government assistance with child care. Because American policies focus disproportionately on aiding the poorest non-working families, parents forced to rely on low-wage jobs are frequently left without the resources to provide their children with an adequate standard of living. As the public debate on welfare reform continues to rage, ever more American children fall into poverty. Why does the nation remain so unresponsive to their plight? Saving Our Children from Poverty probes the American aversion to national assistance programs, citing the negative attitudes that have seeped into the current political discourse. A lack of faith in the federal government's administrative abilities has bolstered a trend toward decentralization of programs, as well as a growing resistance to taxation. Racial antipathies and a belief that financial support encourages irresponsibility further undermine the development of programs for those in need. Saving Our Children from Poverty illustrates what a nation no wealthier than ours can realistically accomplish and afford, and concludes with a viable blueprint for successfully applying aspects of France's system to the United States.
