The Brookings Institution released a paper that evaluates the well-being of single mother families. This policy brief uses consumption data on single mother families in the 1990s, which shows that consumption in housing costs, child care, food, and transportation increased for this group of women. Therefore, post-welfare reform, the material circumstance of single-mothers increased, seemingly because more mothers are employed.

In light of welfare reform, HHS has devoted funds to the Healthy Marriage Initiative. Because of the debate surrounding marriage education, this article seeks to answer what exactly is marriage education and if it is working. Marriage is seen to strengthen families, reduced poverty, and improve child wellbeing.

This brief looks at child welfare agencies' reliance on kin, that is, relatives, to care for children who may otherwise need to be in state custody. In most states, these agencies use voluntary kinship arrangements on a fairly limited basis when caseworkers believe that children face low risk of abuse or neglect. Agencies are confronted by many challenges, including whether to remain involved with a family and how to provide assistance to them.

Authored by Kelly Noonan, Rider University, National Bureau of Economic Research; Nancy E. Reichman, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; and Hope Corman, Rider University, National Bureau of Economic Research. In this report, the authors estimate the effect of poor child health on the labor supply of new fathers post- welfare reform, using a national sample of mostly unwed parents and their children--a group at high risk of living in poverty. The researchers address the potential endogeneity of child health and find that having a young child in poor health reduces the father's probability of being employed by eight percentage points and that it reduces his work effort by over five hours per week. These results add to a growing body of literature suggesting that young children with serious health problems are likely to receive lower levels of health investment than their healthier peers.

Authored by Hope Corman, Rider University, National Bureau of Economic Research; Nancy E. Reichman, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; and Kelly Noonan, Rider University, National Bureau of Economic Research. In this report, the authors estimate the effect of poor child health on the labor supply of mothers post welfare reform, using a national sample of mostly unwed parents and their children-a group at high risk of living in poverty. The researchers address the potential endogeneity of child health and find that having a young child in poor health reduces the mother's probability of working by eight percentage points and her hours of work by three per week when she is employed. These results suggest that children's health problems may diminish their families' capacity to invest in their health.

With the inception of welfare reform in 1996, the goal was to move recipients off welfare and into work. While many States have adopted supports for recipients moving to work, many former recipients have difficulty maintaining stable employment. This paper, through MDRC, describes instability related to child care and reviews the relationship between child care instability and employment instability. Although the perception may be that employment instability may cause child care instability, findings suggest that child care instability is caused by employment instability.

This article, published from the National Association of Social Workers, investigates the relationship of child sexual abuse, physical and psychological barriers to work, and employment outcomes among former and current welfare recipients. Results showed that childhood sexual abuse was correlated with fewer months worked over a 33-month time frame.

On March 2, 2004, the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network hosted its first moderated Online Forum as part of the Child-Only Learning Community. Representatives from eight States logged onto this moderated discussion to engage with Federal resource personnel around the value of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in supporting low-income and TANF families.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA), within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) coordinated this workshop in conjunction with the El Paso County Department of Human Services (DHS). Ms. Barbara Drake, Deputy Director, El Paso County DHS, led the planning and carrying out of this site visit. It was intended for site visitors to gain an understanding of El Paso County’s uniquely holistic approach to integrating intake and case management activities for multiple programs including TANF, child welfare, child care, domestic violence, mental health, and substance abuse.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, with the CalWORKs/Child Welfare Partnership Project, hosted a Roundtable entitled Establishing Linkages Between TANF and Child Welfare Programs May 31, 2002 in Sacramento, CA. This Roundtable was attended by representatives from four States (NC, NJ, WI, CO) as well as the State of California and ten of its counties currently working toward improving service coordination.