Target Population

In large part, the array of programs and services which collectively form the children and families system are designed to meet the needs of low-income families. One in six children in the US lives in a family with an income below the poverty line, while one in three African-American and Hispanic children is poor. ^[1]   Children raised in poverty are at increased risk for a number of problems. They are more likely to drop out of high school, have teenage pregnancies, have impaired health and development, have behavior problems, and become involved with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems than other children. ^[2]  

Although many children are poor at some point in their lives, other children continue to live in poverty year after year. African-American children are far more likely than other children to experience long-term poverty and to receive welfare benefits under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program for longer periods. ^[3]   Families facing persistent and extreme poverty often have multiple and interrelated barriers to employment, and when they do work, they earn much less money than other working families.

In 1999, an estimated 721,500 state and federal prisoners were parents to nearly 1.5 million minor children. ^[4]   More than 10 million children have a parent who was incarcerated at some time. ^[5]   Prisoners may also have cared for aged parents or other dependent family members. When individuals are incarcerated, their families typically experience a loss of financial support. ^[6]   The incarceration of a parent or caregiver can precipitate a cascade of financial and related problems including housing instability, mounting debt, and health problems.

When the person incarcerated is a primary caregiver, incarceration can raise custody issues or place burdens on other family members. ^[7]   While a small percentage of children who have a parent in state prison are placed in formal foster care, a large portion of these kids are cared for by their grandparents or other relatives or friends. ^[8]   Children of people in prison face long and traumatic separations from their parents, especially as most prisons are located more than 100 miles from an inmate's last residence. ^[9]  , ^[10]  

Individuals who go to prison or jail are likely to have low incomes both before and after incarceration; and they and their families are therefore likely to face many of the challenges that confront other poor families. Dealing with all of these issues may result in a need for family services and supports, including both voluntary and involuntary contacts with human services agencies administered by federal, state, and local governments and private or nonprofit organizations. This policy statement outlines some of the major components of the children and family services systems and recommends ways of improving those systems, not only for families with incarcerated parents, but for all families.

Key Issues

One of the major goals of the 1996 welfare reform law was to move poor families with children into the labor force. ^[11]   Since the welfare law was enacted, far fewer poor families have been receiving cash assistance and more poor families are working. ^[12]   However, employment does not guarantee that families will escape poverty: more than one-fourth of all working families with children-and forty percent of minority working families-are poor or near-poor. ^[13]  

Policies that improve job retention, increase and stabilize family income, and decrease poverty make a real difference to children. ^[14]   Providing even a temporary package of work support to low-income parents as they leave welfare (such as an earnings supplement, health insurance, and child care) can have long-term positive effects for children, including improvements in school performance, behavior, and health. ^[15]   (See sidebar, "Welfare-to-Work" in Policy Statement 31, Workforce Development Systems, for further discussion of the relationship between welfare reform and employment issues.)

Those who have custody of children whose parents are incarcerated often turn to TANF, Medicaid, Food Stamps, child welfare, and other health and human services programs for support when a parent is incarcerated. ^[16]   Forty-four percent of families caring for the children of an incarcerated parent rely on cash assistance. ^[17]   A smaller proportion of children enter into the child welfare program. ^[18]   When parents return home from prison, they typically return with few assets to meet many financial and other obligations.

In addition, parents returning from prison or jail often need help from health and human services programs to stabilize their lives and reunite with their children. ^[19]   Specialized services to improve family functioning (such as domestic violence services, family counseling, and early childhood programs) are crucial to helping children and families succeed. ^[20]  

System Organization and Funding

Services to families with children are funded, monitored, and provided by agencies and organizations in a range of human services systems, including the family assistance (welfare), child care, child support, and child welfare (protective services and family support/preservation) systems. In addition, family services can include support for marriage initiatives, families with elderly or disabled adult dependents, and domestic violence prevention or intervention programs.

The federal government distributes the key streams of material assistance to families through a variety of federal agencies and programs. Two of the largest direct income-support programs are the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), administered by the Internal Revenue Service, and Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI), administered by the Social Security Administration. Other federal funds are provided as state matching funds, formula grants, or block grants, all of which permit varying levels of state discretion. Typically, such programs are "categorical," that is, restricted to poor or near-poor families with children or other specifically defined groups. For such initiatives, including, for instance, the US Department of Agriculture's Food Stamps and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition programs, states and localities control enrollment according to a combination of federal restrictions and their own criteria. For brief descriptions of some federal and state assistance programs, see chart, "Key Assistance and Services Programs for Low-Income Families with Children," below.

The majority of federal funding dedicated specifically to family support is channeled through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ACF funds state, territory, local, and tribal organizations to provide family assistance (welfare), child support, child care, Head Start, child welfare, and other programs relating to children and families. ACF's Office of Family Assistance oversees the Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) program. Established by the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 to replace previous welfare programs, TANF is the primary vehicle for material family assistance through HHS, and it also provides supportive services and community program grants. ACF's Child Care Bureau distributes the monies from the Child Care Development Fund to states to provide child care for families trying to become independent of public assistance.

For all ACF programs, actual services are provided by state, county, city and tribal governments, and public and private local agencies. ACF assists these organizations through funding, policy direction, and information services.

Additionally, federal grants in other social service areas may include some portion of funding which is specifically targeted towards families, or which could serve as support for needy families. Medicaid-which provides health care to low-income individuals generally-gives eligibility preference to families with children and pregnant women, and serves as an important support to 25 million children. It also serves as the primary support for long-term care for older Americans. The major federal funding stream for child welfare initiatives is authorized under the Social Security Act as Foster Care and Adoption Assistance (Title IV-E) and provides for the cost of care for approximately 250,000 children in low-income families. The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) of the US Department of Justice offers both discretionary and formula grants to states undertaking domestic violence initiatives. And the Social Services Block Grant and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant each fund community-based organizations to provide a variety of services to families. ^[21]  

States organize their family assistance programs and services in different ways. State-based financial assistance, family programming, and the administration of federal family funds may be overseen by one agency or several. Typically, these programs are housed under the umbrella of a state human or social services agency, although some programs may be located in state employment or health agencies. These programs may have different names as well as different configurations. ^[22]   In addition to material assistance, family services programs administered by the state typically include child support and enforcement, child care, child welfare, and other initiatives.

Some states have state-administered child welfare systems (typically housed in the state human or social services agency) while others have state-supervised, county-administered systems. The child welfare system is charged with helping families safely care for their children, or when that is not possible, finding the children another permanent home. State child welfare agencies perform a variety of functions, including investigating reports of child abuse and neglect, arranging for children to live with relatives and other foster families, finding permanent adoptive homes, helping youth leaving foster care to live independently, and providing supportive services to families where the children are placed (or are at risk of being placed) in foster care or kinship care settings. ^[23]   (See sidebar, "Services Provided by Public Child Welfare Agencies," for a complete roster of service areas.) Each state sets its own policies for triggering the involvement of child welfare agencies; these vary considerably, but they typically adhere to the requirements of the Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) and practice principles recommended by professional organizations such as the Council on Accreditation and the Child Welfare League of America. ^[24]  

The state may also relegate some family support and services responsibilities to local government entities. For instance, in many of the states that have large foster care populations, foster care services may be developed and administered by counties based on the needs of the local population. Finally, domestic violence services are primarily funded and administered by private, nonprofit organizations, with some state and federal support. ^[25]