Report says welfare reform hurts children

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September 2002

Legislative Action Alert from USCCB
National parties raise record $300 million in soft money
Report says welfare reform hurts children

Report says welfare reform hurts children
A study by a group of pediatricians reveals the health of infants and toddlers from low-income families is suffering because their parents have lost access to welfare benefits under the 1996 reform laws. The Children's Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Program analyzed the health and food security of children less than 3-years-old in six major U.S. cities from 1998 through 2000.

"These findings sound an urgent alarm about the unintended effects of welfare reform on the health of young children," said Dr. Deborah Frank, the principal investigator of the study and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. "As child health professionals we are deeply troubled."

The study found infants and toddlers in families that were sanctioned for non-compliance with welfare rules were 50 percent more likely to be food insecure (as measured by U.S. Department of Agriculture standards) than children of the same age in families still receiving full welfare benefits. Children of sanctioned families were also at 30 percent higher risk of hospitalization, and 90 percent higher risk of hospitalization following an emergency room visit.

When researchers compared children of sanctioned families to the population of children at large in Boston and Minneapolis, they found sanctioned children to be 45 percent higher risk of food insecurity and 26 percent higher risk of being underweight.

Another study cited by the New York Times shows that, while states' welfare caseloads are declining, the number of children living without either parent is increasing. The study identifies a possible link in the increase of "no parent" homes to reduction or termination of welfare benefits to parents. Many children are sent to live with grandparents or other relatives.

A report published by the Urban Institute lists the number of children in households without their parents at 2.3 million children (3.5 percent) in 1999, an increase from 1.8 million children in 1997. Among low-income children, 5.7 percent lived without parents in 1999.

A study restricted to "child only" welfare cases shows 54 percent live apart from their parents. "Child only" grants are substantially less than adult or family allotments in most states, as little as $68 per month in certain states.

The House of Representatives passed a version of welfare reform, or Personal Responsibility, Work, and Family Promotion Act of 2002, earlier this year. The Senate will debate its version this month. The House version increases the work requirement to 40 hours per week and does not increase the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families grants to adjust for inflation since 1996 when the grants were established.

Network, a Catholic social justice lobby in Washington, D.C. is urging taxpayers to support the version of welfare reform passed by the Senate Finance Committee. That version keeps the work requirement at 30 hours per week, allows benefits to legal immigrants and their children regardless of their date of entry, gives states an option to provide supplemental housing benefits to employed families still on welfare, and allocates $5.5 billion for child care over the next five years.

The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) says even more money is needed for child care assistance, setting the minimum at $11.25 billion over five years. CDF encourages voters to contact their senators to ask them to legislate more funds for child care for low-income families.—Tara Dix

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