child care - Digital Library Collections
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child care - Digital Library Collections

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THE STATE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN YEARBOOK 1998 reform efforts, has dramatically increased the number of families combining welfare with work. In October 1993 a mere 6.9 percent of the caseload-14,144 families-had earnings; by August 1997 that number jumped to 39,795 families, or 25.4 percent of the caseload. Furthermore, 95 Illinois counties reported that at least 30 percent of their TANF families were working in 1997; not a single county had such a high proportion three years before. The state's willingness to provide a wage supplement based on each family's need and work effort, and not on an arbitrary time limit, seems to be putting more families on the track to employment and self-sufficiency. Moving Forward: A 1998 Agenda for Action Anumber of concrete steps can be taken to lift children out of poverty. Parents need the tools to get and keep jobs, and families need income supports when jobs do not pay enough to make ends meet. Even in a thriving economy, some families live in areas where work is not available and jobs must be created. Other parents simply cannot work, either temporarily or permanently, because of their disability or their child's. Not every family has the same needs, of course. Literacy training is a priority for some; others may need the chance to fInish college. Many require subsidized child care; others have to fInd a way to get to work. For some, cash aid is essential to keep their children from destitution. Eliminating child poverty is critical on grounds of humanity and compassion, but it is imperative, too, as an investment in our economic future. What actions can make a real difference in the lives of children and families? • Families need access to good jobs and the supports that make work possible. Federal and state governments should invest in child care and transportation so that parents can get to work and know that their children are safe and nurtured. Mothers, especially those escaping from abusive situations, may need counseling, treatment for depression, or help in recovering from substance abuse before they can perform at work. • Parents need education and training as a means to compete for jobs with good pay. The federal government should give states the flexibility to count training or education as an allowable work activity, because every year of education improves the family's chance of rising out of poverty. Federal financial aid should expand on the work-study model to offer stipends to parents trying to upgrade their employment potential. Businesses should follow the recommendation of the National Association of Manufacturers and invest between 3 and 5 percent of payroll on employee training. • Children should be able to count on the support of both parents. States should eliminate the disincentives for marriage that linger from the old welfare system, dropping the rules that made it harder for two-parent families to qualify for aid. When parents cannot stay together, the absent parent should pay child support. States should act quickly to automate their child support enforcement systems, to register newly hired employees, and to use other enforcement tools to improve on the current dismal collection record. • States should pilot child support assurance programs. Under such programs, the state makes vigorous efforts to collect support from the absent parent. If no support payments can be obtained, however, the state pays a base amount per child that provides a sure source of income and, when combined with the custodial parent's earnings, offers families a far greater chance to escape from poverty. • The minimum wage should be raised until a full-time minimum wage job pays at least enough to support a family of three above the poverty line, as it did during most of the 1960s and 1970s. • States should enact their own Earned Income Tax Credits, as nine states already have. Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and 14 CHILDREN'S DEFE SE FU D

FAMILY INCOME Wisconsin have created refundable credits available to families even if their earnings are too low to owe taxes. • The federal government should restore food stamps for legal immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of children, and should reverse the cutbacks that reduce food stamps for families with children and high housing costs. • Cities, counties, businesses, and community institutions should create real jobs in areas with job shortages, taking advantage of existing tax incentives or wage subsidies when appropriate. Public jobs, with adequate pay and benefits, should meet community needs, including the need for housing rehabilitation, infrastructure repair, and services for children, youth, and the elderly. • All employers, private and public, must do their part by paying family-supporting wages and benefits. A rust step would be to endorse livable-wage campaigns calling for pay at least one-third higher than the minimum wage. • Current unemployment compensation rules should be revised so that low-income workers with children are more likely to qualify for benefits. Today only about one in 10 single mothers with work experience who receive welfare ever qualifies for an unemployment check. Ending child poverty in America requires an all-out campaign to help parents get and keep jobs that ensure a decent living. A national agenda to make work pay will enable working families to rise out of poverty and build better futures for their children. CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND 15

FAMILY<br />

INCOME<br />

Wisconsin have created refundable credits<br />

available to families even if their earnings are<br />

too low to owe taxes.<br />

• The federal government should restore food<br />

stamps for legal immigrants, including hundreds<br />

of thousands of <strong>child</strong>ren, and should<br />

reverse the cutbacks that reduce food stamps<br />

for families with <strong>child</strong>ren and high housing<br />

costs.<br />

• Cities, counties, businesses, and community<br />

institutions should create real jobs in areas<br />

with job shortages, taking advantage of existing<br />

tax incentives or wage subsidies when appropriate.<br />

Public jobs, with adequate pay and<br />

benefits, should meet community needs, including<br />

the need for housing rehabilitation, infrastructure<br />

repair, and services for <strong>child</strong>ren,<br />

youth, and the elderly.<br />

• All employers, private and public, must do<br />

their part by paying family-supporting wages<br />

and benefits. A rust step would be to endorse<br />

livable-wage campaigns calling for pay at least<br />

one-third higher than the minimum wage.<br />

• Current unemployment compensation rules<br />

should be revised so that low-income workers<br />

with <strong>child</strong>ren are more likely to qualify for<br />

benefits. Today only about one in 10 single<br />

mothers with work experience who receive welfare<br />

ever qualifies for an unemployment check.<br />

Ending <strong>child</strong> poverty in America requires an<br />

all-out campaign to help parents get and keep jobs<br />

that ensure a decent living. A national agenda to<br />

make work pay will enable working families to rise<br />

out of poverty and build better futures for their<br />

<strong>child</strong>ren.<br />

CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND 15

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