Over 36% of post–9/11 era veterans have a disability, but little research has examined wounded veterans’ finances. We investigated main and interaction effects of income sources and demographic, military, and mental health characteristics on household poverty and deep poverty to better understand wounded veterans’ financial outcomes. Data were drawn from the 2018 Wounded Warrior Survey ( n = 33,067). Two logistic regression models investigated direct associations between independent variables and poverty outcomes; predictive margins and average marginal effects were calculated for employment and cash transfers on outcomes. 56% of respondents reported full- or part-time employment, and 17% met criteria for household poverty. Of those, 75% met criteria for deep poverty. Cash transfers were negatively associated with poverty and deep poverty, and part-time employment was positively associated with poverty compared with not working. Employment was insufficient protection against poverty in this sample of wounded veterans—transfers were a critical bulwark.

The present study investigates the geographic distribution patterns of the responsiveness of four safety net programs during the significant economic downturn triggered by the 2020 pandemic: Unemployment Insurance, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. An analysis of each state’s enrollment changes in these safety net programs from the pre-pandemic to the pandemic period relative to labor-market performance, using a responsiveness index, revealed which programs were most responsive to the pandemic recession in specific states or regions. Consistent with national findings, the present study suggests that Unemployment Insurance responded the most to the economic downturn of 2020, followed by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Findings also show that Arizona and New Mexico responded highly across all four programs relative to labor-market performance. We used exploratory spatial data analysis to determine whether the spatial patterns of the responsiveness index identified in the study are statistically significant globally and locally within a given neighborhood structure. Our findings suggest that spatial distribution patterns are not random for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families at the global level. Moreover, statistically low-low clusters were found in different areas of these two programs: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in northern states and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in southern states. Our analyses of the four safety nets’ responsiveness to labor market performance are consistent with the underlying social sustainability principles, particularly livelihood security and social well-being. Our findings can help policymakers make data-driven and better-informed decisions to assist those facing financial hardship, paving the way for improved policies and new opportunities for prosperity.

The major economic downturn of the Great Recession led many families with children to depend on cash assistance from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. In order to capture TANF caseload growth rates relative to their labor market performance, we developed a responsiveness index which revealed that many of the western and midwestern states were quite responsive to the recession. Using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) tools, we found the presence of strong spatial clusters in unemployment rate and in TANF maximum aid. Several states in the western region were surrounded by neighboring states with higher growth in unemployment rate changes than the national average based on ‘Rook Contiguity’ weight matrix. The presence of High-High clusters of the level of TANF benefits was found in Northeastern states whereas the presence of Low-Low spatial clusters was found primarily in Southern states. The present study’s findings have confirmed the idea that spatial analyses can be useful for policy research. In the era of evidence-based policy making, the role of spatial analyses is bound to expand.

During the 2008 Great Recession, many families with children relied on cash assistance from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The present study applied Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) tools to analyze geographically varying spatial clusters of states’ unemployment rates, TANF caseload growth rates, TANF policy choices such as benefit levels and TANF responsiveness rates to the recession. We analyzed 45 contiguous states and Washington D.C. A standardized TANF responsiveness index was developed to compare states’ TANF growth rates relative to their labor market conditions. The western states were found to be very responsive to the recession with ratios greater than one. In contrast, Texas and Arizona, with ratios below 1, were unresponsive to the recession. The presence of strong spatial clusters in unemployment rate and TANF maximum aid were found. In the case of maximum aid, there was a strong presence of Low-Low spatial clusters in Southern States and High-High clusters in Northeastern States. The findings suggest that several neighboring states in the northeast and some in the south had similar levels of financial commitment during the 2008 recessionary as the ones found by earlier research conducted during non-recessionary periods. The findings have implications for future federal actions and for state level collaboration.

Loss of market income to families is recognized as a major risk factor of child neglect. In the 2008 recession, some poor families replaced their market incomes with cash assistance from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Using secondary data for 42 contiguous jurisdictions and DC, we examined the relationship between increases in TANF caseloads and changes in substantiated child neglect cases in each of the contiguous jurisdiction's 2008 recession. Key findings suggest that reductions in child neglect cases in the presence of increasing TANF caseloads were more profound in about half the states than any increases in child neglect cases found in the remainder of the states. Applying Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis tools, local spatial clusters were found in four neighboring states in the Midwest-South corridor suggesting that child neglect increases were similar and substantial across these four states. Our findings provide important information to stakeholders who may want to better target federal resources to specific geographic regions. Neighboring states experiencing large increases in child neglect during economic downturns may extend their collaborative efforts so they can develop strategies for improving services. Future research should explain the growth in child neglect with other variables aside from TANF caseloads.

We now stand squarely amid the second decade of permanency planning looking toward and planning the third. In this concluding chapter we further discuss issues identified in earlier chapters and additional salient child welfare trends to plan for the next decade.

As noted in previous chapters, group care continues to be used as a placement resource for children of all ages. At times, large numbers of children were served in group care, a service corresponding to popular beliefs in the convenience and appropriateness of this form of supervision for children (Kadushin, 1980). At other times, however, popular and professional concerns about the importance of childrearing in the most homelike environment have shifted the emphasis on care for dependent children to foster family care and away from group care (Ashby, 1984; Lerman, 1982; Wolins & Piliavin, 1969). Although that debate continues to provoke controversy, many see group care as an appropriate alternative for children who might not otherwise be served in foster family homes. Seen as one residential alternative along a continuum, the group home offers one more option for hard-to-place children. Wells (1993) sees gro jp care as an essential placement option for seriously emotionally disturb >ed children but also notes that it should be used sparingly, because it is "a radical and costly intervention" (p. 165). For many adolescents, g oup care may be the placement of choice, when, under the supervision of their county probation department, they might otherwise be served in fai- more restrictive environments.

Since the pioneering work of Charles Birtwell more than a century ago foster care's aim has been to be a short-term service prior to restoring the child to the parent's care (Birtwell, 1886, cited in Kadushin, 1980). As shown in Chapter 1, approximately 200,000 children leave foster care each year. Although not all will return to the home of the parent, this chapter and other kindred studies described in the previous chapter show that the majority will return home.

The Great Recession that officially began in December 2007 nationally resulted in a loss of income on the part of many families with children who in turn, relied on a variety of safety nets, including cash assistance from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Loss of income has been recognized as a major risk factor of child maltreatment, in particular child neglect. During its 2007 recession, Arizona shortened its TANF lifetime limits substantially which resulted in transfer income losses for many families with children on TANF. Using time-series analysis, the present study determines the relative impact of TANF’s shorter than 60-month time limits on the Arizona’s child neglect caseload. This paper shows that there is a strong inverse relationship between child neglect and the decrease in the number of families receiving cash assistance from TANF. Key findings reveal that all else constant, under the presence of 36-month time limit there was an increase of 190 more children substantiated for neglect in the state of Arizona (p < .001). The corresponding figure under the 24 month life time limit was 461 cases per month (p < .001). This study reminds us that policies in one program should not be implemented in a vacuum but rather that their consequences for children and families in related programs need to be closely analyzed.

It is difficult from the research available to date to answer basic questions regarding the length of time children remain in foster care. Despite decades of study, we continue to learn what factors are associated with the length of time children spend in foster care prior to being returned to their parents. Discussion of the limitations of previous research regarding this issue helps to clarify the need for the advances in the analysis of foster care we advocate.

The implementation of permanency planning has been concurrent with the explosion of child abuse and reporting. Child welfare services traditionally served parents of children in conflict and children with behavior problems in addition to abused, neglected, and abandoned children. The national concern about child abuse has resulted in a refocusing of child welfare services to address the needs of the nation's most vulnerable children. Although the child welfare service system continues to serve older and troubled youths, it most often follows a child abuse allegation and a child protective services (CPS) investigation. Kamerman and Kahn (1990) portray a dramatic, perhaps overly dramatic, picture of this trend: "Child protective services today constitute the core public child and family service, the fulcrum and sometimes, in some places, the totality of the service" (p. 8).