NCFR 2000

1. NCFR 2000 Research Update for Practitioners:Putting Family Policy on the Political AgendabyKaren BogenschneiderAssociate ProfessorHuman Development and Family StudiesFamily Policy SpecialistUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison/Extension

2. What’s Your Role in Family Policy? • Conduct research on families • Conduct evaluations of policies or programs • Teach family policy • Implement policies or programs • Integrate research findings for policymakers or practitioners • Disseminate research to policymakers or practitioners • Conduct family impact analyses of policies, programs, or institutions • Engage citizens in policymaking • Involve Universities in directing resources to policymaking

4. Today’s Outline • Is family policy an idea whose time has come? • Is American policymaking focused more on individuals or families? • Can family policy bring a unique perspective to policymaking? • Are family approaches to policymaking effective? • Are families a legitimate issue for public policy? • Can we overcome the controversy and reach consensus on family policy? • Do we know how to put families on the political agenda?

5. Is Family Policy An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

6. Cast Your Vote! What percent of American adults say that loving family relationships are extremely important to them? • 91% • 75% • 61% • 49%

7. Cast Your Vote! What percent of American adults say that their financial security is extremely important to them? • 91% • 75% • 61% • 49%

8. Cast Your Vote! What percent of American adults say that their satisfaction with their job is extremely important to them? • 91% • 75% • 61% • 49%

9. Yet family policy is still not a term that has the status of economic or environmental policy.

10. Greater than the tread of mighty armiesis an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo February 26, 1820 May 22, 1885

11. Is American Policymaking Focused More on Individuals or Families?

12. The United States has no explicit national family policy nor comprehensive vision for families. (Elrod, 1999)

13. Can Family Policy Bring a Unique Perspectiveto Policymaking?

14. A Difficult Task Defining family policy has proven so difficult that it has been likened to“swimming in molasses or nailing Jell-O to a tree” Blankenhorn (1990, pg. 5)

15. Family Policy Is: A policy that derives from one of the following four functions of families: a) Family creation b) Economic support c) Childrearing d) Caregiving

16. A Family Perspectivein Policymaking • The ways families contribute to the problems • How families are affected by problems, and • Whether families need to be involved in solutions. Analyzes the consequences of any policy or program, regardless of whether it is explicitly aimed at families, for its impact on family well-being; examines

17. Examples of: Family Policy Family policies include child care, child support, divorce, family violence, juvenile crime, long-term care, teenage pregnancy, and the child care tax credit. A Family Perspective in Policymaking Because they are not aimed specifically at families, policies on issues such as health care, housing, poverty, substance abuse, and unemployment are not family policies, but would benefit from a family perspective in policymaking.

18. Families bring a quality to American policymaking that no other institution or interest group does as well—commitment to others.

19. Are Family Approachesto PolicymakingEffective?

20. Olds Home Visiting Graph

21. Cast Your Vote! Which treatment approach works best for improving school behavior and preventing substance use among teens? a) Parents only c) Parents and youth Problem solving d) Self-study materials Communication Free access to videos Limit-setting and written materials Supervision Discipline b) Youth only Self-regulation of behavior Developing personal space Setting limits Solving problems (Dishion, McCord & Poulin, 1999)

22. Are Familiesa Legitimate Issue for Public Policy?

23. Family Policy in the 1990s (Tubbesing, 1998) A “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” Decade • Devolution of authority from the federal to state and local levels • Counter trend toward centralization and federal preemption of state authority

24. Family Policy Developments of the 1990s • Philanthropic Commitments • Federal Commitments • State Commitments • New Data Sources • The Priorities of American Families

25. Selected State Policy Resources • Coming Together for Children and Families – a report of the track record of state cabinet-level commissions or councils Order from the Policy Institute for Family Impact Seminars, (608)263-2353 • The Finance Project – strategies and state statutes for financing and administering community-based family collaboratives Order from the Finance Project http://www.financeproject.org/resource.htm • Map and Track – tracks changes over time in state initiatives for fathers and also for young children and families Order from the National Center for Children in Poverty http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/main10.html

26. New Data Sourcesin the 1990s • Kids Count – an annual report card comparing states on key measures of child well-being Available online from the Annie E. Casey Foundation http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/ • Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics – data from 18 federal agencies on children and families Available online at http://www.childstats.gov/ac2000/ac00.asp • Snapshots of American Families – data from 44,461 randomly selected households in 13 states and 900 low-income families with children Available online from the Urban Institute at http://newfederalism.urban.org/nsaf/index.htm

27. Family Policy Developments of the 1990s • Philanthropic Commitments • Federal Commitments • State Commitments • New Data Sources • The Priorities of American Families

28. Cast Your Vote! What percent of American parents say that government is currently doing a great deal to help them? • 47% • 33% • 25% • 6%

29. Cast Your Vote! What percent of American parents think that government could be doing a great deal about their concerns or worries? • 47% • 33% • 25% • 6%

30. The legitimacy question has been answered – families are a legitimate focus of government at all levels.

31. Can We Overcome the Controversy and Reach Consensus on Family Policy?

32. The Theory of Paradox True paradox– two ideas or principles that seem irreconcilable with each other, but prove on closer scrutiny, simultaneously valid.

33. Applying the Theory of Paradox to a Frame of Reference in Policymaking A True Paradox If too extreme, interferes with the commitment and self-sacrifice that solid marriages, effective parenting, and strong civil societies require. Individualism Familism If too extreme, interferes with hard-fought individual rights such as equal wages and women’s career opportunities. Because both poles are valid, the theory of paradox suggests pushing in the ignored direction.

34. Is the Theory of Paradox Politically Feasible? A national family agenda is “neither liberal nor conservative…the core issues facing the American family… will fit the strategic needs of either party. Thus, it is twice blessed: “good policy and good politics.” Blankenhorn (1988, p. 2)

35. Do We Know How to Put Families on the Political Agenda?

36. Two Methods for Putting Families on the Political Agenda • Promoting a Specific Family Policy • Promoting a Family Perspective in Policymaking

37. Criteria for DevelopingFamily Policies Family policies are most apt to be enacted and sustained if they: • Articulate the valuable service that families provide to society • Make room for the less privileged in universal programs that benefit all • Tap into a secure funding stream • Secure backing from a voluntary association, preferably one with local, state, and national presence (Skocpol, 1997)

38. Criteria for Family Impact Analysis To promote family well-being, policies and programs should: • Provide support so family members can fulfill their responsibility • Encourage parental and marital commitments and stability • Recognize the strength and persistence of family ties • Assure family empowerment and partnerships • Respect family diversity • Include vulnerable families

39. Innovative Approachesof the Decade • Family Impact Assessment Tools http://sohe.wisc.edu/familympact • Families Life First http://www.familylife1st.org • Welfare Peer Assistance Network (WELPAN) http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/irp/welpan/home.htm • Family Impact Seminars http://sohe.wisc.edu/familympact

41. A Policymaker’s Chargeto Family Professionals Persist with well-researched and accredited information and keep at it. Politics belong to the persistent. Anonymous State Legislator (State Legislative Leaders Foundation, 1995, p. 29)

43. The Final Curtain Call Slides designed by Meg Wall-Wild Opera graphics courtesy of Coffee Stain Productions