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Title: Children Living Out-of-Home: Effects of Family and Environmental Characteristics
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Berger, Lawrence Marc
Children Living Out-of-Home: Effects of Family and Environmental Characteristics
Presented: Washington, DC, Society for Social Work and Research Meetings, January 2003
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Childhood Residence; Children, Poverty; Family Resources; Family Structure; Modeling, Probit; Poverty; 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 or from involuntary child removal due to parental maltreatment. Some children may 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 likely to be involved in the welfare system are also likely to have children living out-of-home. Additionally, there is some evidence that welfare benefit levels affect children's living arrangements.

Yet, little 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 children's living arrangements. 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 various out-of-home care arrangements. 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.

Bibliography Citation
Berger, Lawrence Marc. "Children Living Out-of-Home: Effects of Family and Environmental Characteristics." Presented: Washington, DC, Society for Social Work and Research Meetings, January 2003.