help

NOTE: Hyperlinks provided in this policy fax briefing were correct as of the time of publication. August 2001 - Vol. 3, No 6 New Census Data Provide Additional Information on Poverty in the U.S. Early Results from Fragile Family Study Available for Oakland, CA Website Offers Bibliography of Marriage and Poverty Research Wade Horn Confirmed as HHS Assistant Secretary Texas Passes Law Addressing Child Support Arrearages New Book Challenges Social Policies Aimed at Low-Income Fathers Taxpayers Protest Tax Rebate from President Bush New Research Released on Effects of Family Separation on Adolescents New Census Data Provide Additional Information on Poverty in the U.S. The U.S. Census Bureau has released the American Community Survey, which includes data from a sampling of 700,000 households across the fifty states during 1999 and 2000. Analyses of the data collected during the shorter survey indicate that it should be a good predictor of the results of the full 2000 census due next year. Among the findings: Though incomes, education level, car ownership, and house size have increased on average since the 1990 census, poverty (defined as $17,601 for a family of four) remains at 13% for the general population and 17% for children. 17% of households receive some form of public aid. Despite welfare reform and caseload reduction, poverty for single female-headed families remained at 42% during the years 1999-2000. In an individual state analysis, it appears that states with large minority populations have higher than average poverty rates, and that southern states tended to rank high in poverty rates, but low in the provision of public assistance. The number of children being raised by grandparents has increased. Women's annual median earnings remain at 63% of men's. -AL Early Results from Fragile Family Study Available for Oakland, CA A new report from the Public Policy Institute of California, authored by Maureen Waller, Unmarried Parents, Fragile Families: New Evidence from Oakland, provides compelling new information on relationships between parents in the first year of their child's life. Waller interviewed 250 Oakland, CA families headed by parents who were unmarried at the time of the birth and again 12 months later. The study is part of a 20-city Fragile Families and Child Well-Being survey being conducted nationally that will follow the families over a period of 4 years. Waller reports that, for parents in Oakland who were unmarried at the time of their child's birth: Only 7% married in the first year after the birth of their child. Almost half were living together, and 40 percent were not in a romantic relationship with the other parent one year later. Cohabitation was the most stable relationship type in the first year. Parents who ended their relationship in the first year most often cited a specific event such as a violent incident, drug relapse or deportation, as the reason. Financial instability, including the inability to find housing together, coincided with relationship problems in the first year. Couples in general found their relationships highly vulnerable due to personal and economic circumstances, and few had reached a point where they felt prepared for marriage. Cohabitation had the strongest positive effect on marriage expectations, suggesting that unmarried parents viewed it as a step toward marriage. The report is available on-line at www.ppic.org. -RM Website Offers Bibliography of Marriage and Poverty Research The Institute for Women's Policy Research has created an annotated bibliography of articles and research related to the issue of the promotion of marriage as a solution to poverty. The bibliography is intended to familiarize researchers, policy makers and the general public with the debate by pulling together a wide range of writings on the subject. Topics covered include: newspaper articles outlining the current policy debate; economic insecurity and single motherhood; child welfare and single-motherhood; factors that influence marital decisions; race and family formation; what conservatives are saying; concerns feminists have about promoting marriage; and social policy approaches. The bibliography is currently in draft form and can be accessed at www.iwpr.org/marriagepovertylit.html. The author is accepting articles to be included in the final version, and is particularly interested in recent submissions to the race and family formation section. Submissions can be made to the Research Program Coordinator at hayot@iwpr.org. -RM Wade Horn Confirmed as HHS Assistant Secretary On July 25, 2001, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Wade Horn to be the Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Family Support of the Administration for Children and Families. Dr. Horn will preside over TANF, child support enforcement, Head Start, child care, foster care, adoptions and may other public human service programs, and will be a central figure in welfare reauthorization. Only Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) spoke out against the nomination, citing over 90 community organizations also opposing Dr. Horn based on his writings and philosophy regarding marriage promotion and the means by which to reduce poverty. In his comments, Senator Wellstone stated, "The solution is not, as Dr. Horn and others suggest, to interfere with the privacy rights of poor women but, rather, let's focus on economic self-sufficiency. Congress should not use women's economic vulnerability as an opportunity to control their decisions regarding their marriage or, for that matter, childbearing. Fighting poverty and promoting family well-being will depend on positive Government support, for policies that support low-income parents in their struggle to obtain good jobs so that they can have a decent standard of living, so they can give their children the care they know their children need and deserve." -RM Texas Passes Law Addressing Child Support Arrearages Beginning September 1, 2001, a new Texas law will create a presumption that a limit on retroactive child support of four years is reasonable and in the best interests of the child. The law will also allow judges to suspend the enforcement of child support arrearages and interest if current court-ordered child support is paid regularly and if the obligor is involved in the life of the child for whom support is ordered through the exercise of any court-ordered access to the child. Enforcement would be reinstated if the obligor failed to meet any of these conditions. -RM New Book Challenges Social Policies Aimed at Low-Income Fathers In a book released earlier this year, What It Means to Be Daddy: Fatherhood for Black Men Living Away From Their Children, author Jennifer Hamer, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Southern Illinois University, writes about fatherhood from the perspective of the 88 low-income black fathers she interviewed. Hamer was interviewed recently by Salon.com, an on-line magazine and, based on her research, made the following points: Eighty-six percent of the fathers she interviewed made less than $20,000 per year. The fathers did not talk about quality fatherhood in financial or provider terms, but felt that the most important thing was to spend time with their children. Mothers were likely to find it unnecessary for the fathers to live in their household in order to be good fathers, since the fact that both parents are poor means that the addition of a poor adult in the home was not likely to contribute to the family's circumstances. Neither fathers nor mothers expressed much interest in marriage. In many cases, this was explained by the mother's residence with her own family. The fathers she interviewed cared very much about their children, and were very conscious of their decisions and their parenting. -RM Taxpayers Protest Tax Rebate from President Bush Many who have protested President Bush's tax cut have organized to pool together their individual rebates into large contributions to groups for equitable income distribution and to charitable causes which may get left behind with the tax plan. An estimated $500,000 has been pledged to date. Many middle-income taxpayers are due to receive checks for $300 for single-income families and $600 for married families in August. The rebate rejection campaign represents a protest of the refunds as they have been pulled from a budget surplus reserved for future social security and current social programs, such as education, housing, and health care. In addition, the richest 1% of families stand to gain 38% of the money delivered under the tax package, while 26% of taxpayers will receive no additional income yet will suffer from the most cuts in services. The following websites and organizations have organized to accept donated rebate checks in protest: www.rejecttherebate.com by United for a Fair Economy; www.taxrebatepledge.org the Reform Jewish Movement; www.donaterebate.org and www.giveforchange.com by Working Assets (with a pledge to match donations). -AL New Research Released on Effects of Family Separation on Adolescents A recent article in The Journal of Marriage and the Family challenges long-held beliefs on the effects of divorce on adolescents. The study suggests that academic, behavioral, and psychological problems often ascribed to parental divorce and separation may more likely result from parental conflict than the actual act of separating. The author, Yongmin Sun, studied teens in the years before and after their parents' divorce, and found minimal increase in stress following the divorce. Sun reports that parental conflict, financial instability, and child and domestic abuse are the most damaging factors to adolescents regardless of the presence of divorce. -AL

Copyright 2001, the Center on Fathers, Families, and Public Policy. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement | Copyright Statement | Disclaimer