This article theorizes the wait list as an underexamined vehicle of administrative burden. Wait lists are now common within the U.S. social safety net, yet little research has considered their administration. Drawing on a surprising case of Massachusetts' declining wait list for subsidized childcare, I find that administrative burdens were…

The federal government has a long history of investing in programs for feeding children, starting with federal aid for school lunch programs in the 1930s. Today, federal child nutrition programs support food served to children in schools and a variety of other institutional settings. The child nutrition programs support meals and snacks served to…

The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program is growing at an unsustainable pace. Over the past 40 years the number of disabled worker beneficiaries has increased nearly sixfold, rising from 1.5 million in 1970 to 8.2 million in 2010. Rapid growth in the rolls has put increasing pressure on program finances. The rapid rise in SSDI…

In 1981, Lighthouse Youth Services, a private nonprofit agency in Cincinnati, Ohio, began one of the first independent living programs for adolescents in the state. The local county children's services supervisors and Lighthouse administrators had been hearing numerous stories of youth who had left the county's foster and group homes and were…

The Center of Family Life (CFL) is a private nonprofit agency. Since its creation in 1978 CFL has offered a wide range of services to children and families in Sunset Park, a low-income multi-echnic Brooklyn, New York neighborhood. All families with children under age 18 and pregnant women living in the neighborhood are eligible for services free…

The mission of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children through age 4 who are at nutritional risk. WIC provides nutritious foods to supplement diets, nutrition education, and referrals to health care and other social services.…

This document profiles 150 Federal benefit programs that provide cash on noncash assistance to persons demonstrating need or who qualify for benefits as a result of either contributions made by them or on their behalf or military service. These programs spent more than $400 billion in Federal tax dollars in fiscal year 1983, excluding…

This policy brief describes the State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) Initiative, a policy designed to improve early childhood programs to ensure that all children arrive at school healthy and ready to learn. The SECCS is intended to help states build a bridge from birth to school and addresses how states will support children and…

A study team was convened to examine the current status of the delivery system for social services to the elderly in Orange County (California) and to consider the potential of senior centers in fulfilling the role of delivery "focal point." The team was further asked to develop a desirable service delivery system for Orange County as…

The report provides Indian and Migrant Program Division managers and specialists in each of the 5 Head Start component areas with a comprehensive picture of the 43 home base learning centers operating between October 1978 and May 1979, with a total enrollment of 3,108 migrant children. Using data collected from the Head Start and center directors,…

This report compares personal assistance services to enable independent living for people with disabilities in Sweden, West Germany, and the United States. The report focuses on kinds of personal assistant services available, laws governing these services, the extent to which these services are met by each country's social security and welfare…

This report contains the Oregon state plan for educating homeless children and youth required by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. Data on the number and location of homeless children and homeless youth in the state and the barriers they face in obtaining a free public education are discussed. Section 1 provides an overview…

This document explains how to conduct programs similar to the Broward County, Florida, "Reach Out for Literacy" (ROL) project aimed at providing basic skills education for undereducated adults and adults with limited English proficiency. The introduction lists the objectives for the ROL program and reports the number of adults (689 at 17…

This technical assistance report provides an overview of Medicaid coverage policies for mental health and substance abuse services including all the Medicaid financing opportunities available to states to meet mental health and substance abuse treatment objectives. It contains background information on the Medicaid child and adolescent population,…

This report contains the California state plan for educating homeless children and youth required by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. The plan is designed to raise the level of awareness of schools and school districts to the needs of homeless children and to provide ideas and suggestions for meeting those needs. It is…