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Title: Children Living Out of Home: Effects of Family and Environmental Characteristics
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Berger, Lawrence Marc |
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Children Living Out of Home: Effects of Family and Environmental Characteristics Presented: Dallas, TX, 24th Annual Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Research Conference, November 2002 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Childhood Residence; Economic Well-Being; Family Income; Family Structure; Fertility; Modeling, Probit; Parents, Single; Poverty; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); Welfare Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. A large and growing number of children in the U.S. spend some part of their childhood living in households or institutions that do not include their birth parents. These living arrangements may result from parental choice (i.e., voluntary placement of children outside of the home) or from involuntary child removal via government intervention due to parental maltreatment (i.e., abuse or neglect), and may be associated with a wide variety of issues, including: family crises, physical and mental health problems, substance abuse problems, criminal justice involvement, and child abuse and neglect. It is also possible that some children live apart from their birth parents because their parents do not have the resources to care for them at home. Current evidence suggests that the same types of families who are most likely to be involved in the welfare system - poor, single-parent, unemployed, and minority families - are also most likely to have children living out-of-home. Additionally, there is some evidence that welfare benefit levels affect the likelihood that children remain living with their parents. Yet, little economic research has addressed the ways in which family structures and economic resources have impacted whether children grow up in households that do not include at least one biological parent. In order to address this gap, this paper offers a theoretical framework for estimating the effects of income and poverty, family structure, and income support policies on the probabilities that children are living in out-of-home settings. This framework is grounded in economic theory of parental investments in children and intra-family distribution of resources. Its empirical implications are tested using data from the NLSY. The sample consists of 28,143 observations of families with children 18 years old or younger between 1986 and 1998. Probit models are used to estimate the probability that children from both single- and two-parent families are living in child welf are service settings, with relatives, and in any out-of-home care arrangement. Results suggest that lower-income families, as well as single-parent and mother-partner families, are more likely to have a child living out-of-home in a given year. Higher AFDC/TANF benefits are associated with decreases in the probability that a family has a child living in a child welfare service setting, but increases in the probability that a family has a child living with relatives. Additionally, higher foster care payments are associated with increases in children living out-of-home. Public policy implications are discussed. |
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Bibliography Citation
Berger, Lawrence Marc. "Children Living Out of Home: Effects of Family and Environmental Characteristics." Presented: Dallas, TX, 24th Annual Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Research Conference, November 2002. |