Parenting and Poverty: Making the Connection Laura Frame Children’s Hospital and Research Center at Oakland Jill Duerr Berrick School of Social welfare, U.C. Berkeley October, 2009

Overview How and when do poverty and parenting intersect How and when do poverty and parenting intersect Introduce “Leticia” Introduce “Leticia” How can Linkages help? How can Linkages help?

What Explains The Relationship Between Employment, TANF/ CalWORKs, and Family Well-Being? Effects on Parenting: PositiveNegative Complicated or Unknown Work Welfare Income Childcare Surveillance TANF Services Sanctions & Penalties Family Caps Behavioral Requirements: *Teens live at home *No drug felonies *Paternity establishment *Immunizations Employment Income

Poverty’s Effects on the Material Realities of Parenting

Material Realities of Parenting On Welfare Reality # 1 Low Income and Restricted Resources Limit Parents’ Capacities to Meet Children’s Basic Needs

Material Realities of Parenting On Welfare Reality # 2 The Dangerous Conditions of Many Poor, Urban Neighborhoods Pose Threats to Children’s Safety and Well-Being

Material Realities of Parenting On Welfare Reality # 3 Institutional and Structural Obstacles Restrict Access to Opportunity or Make the Road to Economic Success More Challenging

Material Realities of Parenting On Welfare Reality # 4 There are Often Persisting Effects of Deprivation Over a Parent’s Lifetime, Effects that Further Limit the Opportunities Open to Them and Their Children

Material Realities of Parenting On Welfare Reality # 5 The Cumulative Effects of Poverty Conditions Can Influence Children’s Behavior, Development, and Health Issues

Poverty’s Effects on the Psychological Realities of Parenting

Psychological Realities of Parenting On Welfare Reality # 1 The Impact of Facing Serious Difficulties in Providing the Necessities of Life for their Children

Psychological Realities of Parenting On Welfare Reality # 2 A Sense of the Limited Educational, Cultural, and Material Opportunities That a Parent Can Provide in Conditions of Poverty

Psychological Realities of Parenting On Welfare Reality # 3 Limited Time and Emotional Availability to Offer Children

Psychological Realities of Parenting On Welfare Reality # 4 Challenges to Protecting Children from Harm

Psychological Realities of Parenting On Welfare Reality # 5 A Limited or Foreshortened Sense of Children’s Futures

Parental Coping in Conditions of Poverty

Who is “Leticia?” Single mother Single mother 4 children 4 children No job history/ no skills No job history/ no skills 8 th grade education 8 th grade education Began AFDC 1982 – breaks in aid due to prison, loss of children Began AFDC 1982 – breaks in aid due to prison, loss of children Previous substance abuse - in recovery Previous substance abuse - in recovery

Leticia’s Welfare/Child Welfare Timeline 1982 – st Child Born 2 nd Child Born Leticia In & Out of Prison (SSI Eligible for Drug Addiction) 4 th Child Born (Cut off SSI a few months later) rd Child Born AFDCNo GA, No AFDC SSI AFDC & SSI 3 Children Removed, Placed in Foster Care

Leticia’s Welfare/Child Welfare Timeline 1997 – 2001 Leticia in Prison 4 th Child Living with Partner & Collecting AFDC, Removed to FC 5 th Child Born 2001 Rec’d. Emergency TANF Check 4 th Child Reunified with Leticia th Child Removed, Placed in Foster Care 5 th Child Removed, Placed with Father (Cut off SSI a few months later) No GA, No TANF TANF/CalWORKs Family Cap Began CalWORKs & some PT work

Leticia’s Parenting As Observed in Characterized by: High warmth, responsiveness, engagement High warmth, responsiveness, engagement Parent and child enjoyed one another Parent and child enjoyed one another All basic care and protection needs met All basic care and protection needs met Leticia relatively secure about herself as a parent Leticia relatively secure about herself as a parent Leticia worried yet hopeful about Dashon's future Leticia worried yet hopeful about Dashon's future Leticia coped quite well with parenting in conditions of poverty Leticia coped quite well with parenting in conditions of poverty

Leticia’s Employability in

From Welfare to Work Barriers to employment Barriers to employment Inadequate education Little work experience Inadequate job skills Lack of understanding of workplace norms and behaviors Employer discrimination Employer discrimination Domestic violence Domestic violence Substance abuse Mental and physical health problems Inadequate child care Inadequate child care Lack of reliable transportation Leticia as a case example

From CalWORKs to Child Welfare May, 2001 New baby New baby Relapsed Relapsed 4 th child removed to non-kin foster care 4 th child removed to non-kin foster care Infant sent to father Infant sent to father Leticia disappeared Leticia disappeared

Economic Precursors to Child Welfare Involvement Work sanctions Work sanctions Family Cap Family Cap Increase in expenses related to infant Increase in expenses related to infant

Leticia’s Family Vulnerability

Family Vulnerabilities Known risk factors Known risk factors Single parent Young child Large family Significant time on aid Breaks in aid Breaks in aid Birth outcomes Birth outcomes Substance abuse Hardships Prior child welfare contact Prior child welfare contact

Would Coordination of CalWORKs And Child Welfare Make A Difference?

Which CalWORKs clients might benefit from a coordinated services approach? What would such an approach look like?

Which child welfare families might benefit from a coordinated services approach? What would such an approach look like?

Acknowledgements Thanks to the following for their collaboration on welfare – child welfare projects in the Center for Social Services Research at U.C. Berkeley: Stephanie Cuccaro-Alamin, Barbara Needell, Jodie Langs, and Lisa Varchol. “Material realities” were excerpted from: Frame, L. (2008). Where poverty and parenting intersect: The impact of welfare reform on caregiving. In J.D. Berrick & B. Fuller (Eds). Good parents or good workers? How policy affects parents’ daily lives. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Data pertaining to “Leticia” were derived from: Frame, L., & Berrick, J.D. (2003) The effects of welfare reform on families involved with public child welfare services: Results from a qualitative study. Children and Youth Services Review, 25(1-2),