This annual report details the 1996-97 activities of the Foundation for Child Development. Included in the report is a discussion of the history and mission of the foundation and its funding priorities. The members of the Council, Board of Directors, Officers, and staff are listed. The report of the chair, Barbara Paul Robinson, describes the…

This report, based on the 1980 and 1990 Census of Population and Housing, Public Use Microdata Samples, presents statistics on America's U.S. children. The report focuses on family living arrangements and economic circumstances. Special attention is devoted to similarities and differences between non-Hispanic white children and non-Hispanic black…

This report describes family homelessness in New York City, which has risen sharply since 1980. Currently, the City's family shelter system is at capacity. Homeless children are typically raised by single mothers who receive no child support, are 27 years old, are unemployed and receiving welfare, and have had at least one public assistance…

This report examines recent trends in the impact of government safety net programs, such as cash assistance, food assistance, and the Earned Income Tax Credit, on poverty among children. The effect on poverty is determined by comparing the number of children who would be poor if government benefits were not counted as part of their family income…

Drawing on 1998-99 survey and ethnographic data from research on the implementation and effects of welfare reform in four large cities, this paper describes the food security of mother-headed families in highly disadvantaged urban neighborhoods who had received or currently receive cash welfare benefits. The families of four groups of women were…

This book provides new estimates of the private costs and public effects of childhood disabilities among welfare recipients. Based on over 2,000 interviews conducted between 1992-96 with household heads in 3 California counties, the estimates cover direct expenditures by families and indirect costs from employment reductions. The study finds that…

This is an annotated resource guide for those interested in recent hunger and food insecurity studies. Objectives, methods, and key findings of each study are summarized, and contact information for obtaining the report is given. Studies are grouped by survey location and listed chronologically by publication or release date within each geographic…

This longitudinal study investigated two issues regarding child poverty dynamics: whether long-run transitions out of poverty have changed and whether the events associated with exits from poverty have changed over time. The study contrasted mobility patterns of young children over the 1970s with patterns over the 1980s, examining which poor…

This study examined the fatherhood experiences of 50 low-income, urban, African American fathers and father figures whose children were enrolled in an Early Head Start Program. Information was gathered via qualitative interviews conducted within participants' homes and communities and participant observation. Quantitative methods were used to…

Both social scientists and politicians agree that the way poverty is measured in the United States is inadequate. Noting that this metric influences our understanding of the extent of economic deprivation and influences the provision of social supports, this report presents various options to the current measurement and suggests a replacement for…

This paper discusses some of the ways in which state tax systems affect low-income families. The focus is on the working poor. Why state tax policy matters for these families is explained, describing some general trends in state tax structure among the 50 states. Attention is then paid to details on personal income and sales taxes in a subset of…

This report describes family centered employment strategies. It begins with a look at the economics of families in poverty and provides a brief outline of the many ways in which employment and training programs have begun to work with families. The report then examines the work of four employment programs now offering employment services to…

Despite recent scholarly concern with "neighborhood effects" on children, no study to date has measured the cumulative exposure of children to poor and affluent neighborhoods. This study constructed multi-state life tables to estimate racial and ethnic differences in "childhood expectancy" in five neighborhood types, ranging from affluent to…

Noting that high-quality preschool increases the ability of low-income children to profit from elementary and secondary education, thereby increasing their high school graduation rate and generating economic and other returns for taxpayers, this report articulates and analyzes the economic benefits of providing a high-quality preschool education…

This paper examines whether marriage is effective in reducing child poverty and notes the comparative effects of marriage and maternal education on combatting child poverty. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicate that marriage plays a powerful role in lifting children out of poverty. While both marriage and maternal education…