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BOCYF Projects
Welfare and Children's Development
Publications: New Findings on Children, Families, and Economic Self-Sufficiency: Summary of a Research Briefing (1995); New Findings on Welfare and Children's Development: Summary of a Research Briefing (1997); New Findings on Poverty and Child Health and Nutrition: Summary of a Research Briefing (1998)
Between 1994 and 1997, the Board on Children, Youth, and Families and the Family and Child Well-Being Research Network (of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) convened three annual research briefings on welfare and children's development.
The first research briefing was convened in December 1994 and was designed to bring to light new findings that highlight and inform questions regarding the effects on children and families of various components of welfare. The briefing brought together researchers, congressional staff, and agency and foundation officials to focus on a primary goal of welfare: ensuring the well-being of children in the context of efforts to encourage families to move toward economic self-sufficiency.
A report summarizing data presented at the briefing, New Findings on Children, Families, and Economic Self-Sufficiency: Summary of a Research Briefing, was released in June 1995. The report is organized around four questions that emerged from the presentations and discussions at the briefing:
- How do transitions into and out of welfare affect children's development?
- What role does child care play in parents' attempts to move toward self-sufficiency?
- Do child care subsidies help or hinder low-income parents' efforts to work?
- How does child care affect children's well-being?
In April 1996, the Board and the Family and Child Well-Being Research Network convened the second annual research briefing on welfare and children's development, bringing together researchers and state welfare administrators to discuss the effects on children and families of welfare and economic transitions. A report summarizing data presented at the briefing, New Findings on Welfare and Children's Development: Summary of a Research Briefing, was released in early 1997. This report is organized around the following three questions that emerged at the briefing:
- What role does welfare receipt play in children's development?
- When and for whom does welfare have long-term impacts?
- How do children fare when their mothers combine work with welfare receipt?
The third annual research briefing on welfare and children's development, held in May 1997, focused on poverty and children's health and nutrition. Researchers presented new findings on poverty and children's health, changes in the health system that affect low-income families, and preliminary findings from a number of new child health interventions. A panel of state health officials commented on data and research needs from a state and local perspective. Mindful of data gaps in this field, workshop participants also considered promising next steps for research that addresses the well-being of children in the context of devolving responsibility for welfare reform. A report from the workshop, New Findings on Poverty and Child Health and Nutrition: Summary of a Research Briefing, was published in May 1998. This report is organized around the following three questions:
- How do income and poverty affect the health of children and adolescents?
- How does nutritional status affect children's development?
- How are children and youth affected by changing patterns of health insurance coverage?
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