This report pertains to The Alternative Kinship Care project, which was funded by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under a contract to the Urban Institute.

In 2002, 2.3 million children across the country resided with a relative -- 1.8 million of whom were not involved with the child welfare system. Using data from the National Survey of American's Families, this brief concludes that the standard of living for children in kinship placement has improved since 1997.

The AARP, Child Welfare League of America, Children's Defense Fund, and Generations United have created fact sheets containing current State information related to grandparents and kinship care. Information includes State census data on the number of grandparent caregivers, a list of kinship care family resources and services, State foster care policies for kinship caregivers, information about key public benefits programs, and State kinship care laws. Please click on the State to download the appropriate fact sheet.

Family formation and healthy marriages have been key to welfare reform to improve outcomes for low-income families. Mathematica, contracting with ASPE, conducted this study of food stamp and TANF eligibility and participation among 2-parent families, as compared with single parent families and cohabiting couples. Among the findings, low-income married families were found to have lower participation rates than single parent households.

This study of Utah's long-term welfare families represents a commitment by the Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS) to understand and document the situations of families as they reach the mandatory three-year lifetime limit for receipt of cash assistance. This study reflects transitions at both societal and individual levels. The long-term welfare recipients described were familiar with, and often dependent on, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Their experiences adjusting to TANF are in some ways unique to their cohort.

This issue brief by the Welfare Information Network discusses the challenges to self-sufficiency and employment facing low-income mothers with criminal records. The brief provides strategies, best practices, and resource contacts to effectively address these challenges.

This report was prepared as part of a collaboration between ACF, Caliber Associates, and Howard University School of Social Work. Responding to concerns about the overrepresentation of minority children in the child welfare system, particularly African-American children, this exploratory, qualitative study was initiated to gain insight into the issue of overrepresentation (or racial disproportionality) from the perspective of the child welfare community, including agency administrators, supervisors, and direct service workers. The study was conducted through a series of site visits to nine child welfare agencies to talk with agency administrators, supervisors, and workers, among others, about their perceptions and attitudes about the causes and consequences of racial disproportionalities. The site visits also documented information about the types of programs, practices, and strategies that are being implemented to meet the needs of children and families of color, particularly African-American children and families.

From California's Welfare Policy Research Project, this study was charged with investigating barriers to employment and services accessibility among TANF recipients in San Joaquin County, California. The following potential barriers were surveyed: physical and mental health, family violence, substance abuse, adequate child care, transportation, low education, poor English-language skills, and few work skills. The data is used to address which barriers affect full- and part-time employment among 400 respondents.

This issue brief from the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago and the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison reviews a study of 1,075 TANF applicants in Milwaukee County agencies between March and August 1999. Unlike recent TANF leavers studies, this study tracked the progress and outcomes for TANF applicants specifically.

This report from Mathematica reviews how States could finance services to youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families. Authors review how states are currently paying for home and community services for children and youth with mental illness, and offer information for how States can continue to support youth and families through intensive care.