Families & Poverty

1. Families & Poverty Introduction to Family Studies

2. Welfare Reform - 1996 What Caused Sweeping Reform? Attitudes towards women’s roles More acceptable for women with children to work Since nonpoor mothers were working, those on welfare should be too Characteristics of recipients Not widowed, but rather, single mothers Divorced or never married Deserving vs. undeserving poor Hand-up vs. hand-out Racial composition had changed

3. Families & Poverty Year Percent 1969 13.7 1979 12.4 1989 13.1 1998 12.7 2001 11.7 2007 12.5 2008 13.2 2010 14.3 Despite many initiatives and billions of dollars over the past 40 years: Note how LITTLE CHANGE in the % of people living below poverty Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

4. Poverty in the U.S. • In 2004, 37 million people were in poverty, up 1.1 million from 2003 • Your likelihood of being poor and of receiving welfare is associated with your race and ethnicity http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty04/pov04hi.html

5. TANF Population by Race/ethnicity 2008

6. Families, Public Policy, & Poverty • How do we define poverty? • How would you calculate the line that separates the poor from the nonpoor? • Who are the deserving poor and why has the definition changed? • Who is more likely to be in poverty today – children or the elderly?

7. How Do We Define Poverty? • The official poverty level established by the United States Government. • How would you go about calculating or estimating who is poor an who isn’t? • Where would you draw the line?

8. How Do We Define Poverty? • Poverty thresholds were developed in 1963-1964 by Mollie Orshansky, a home economist at the Social Security Administration. • Based on the estimated cost of an “economy food budget” multiplied by 3 (assuming that food constitutes 1/3 of a family’s budget). • The economy food budget was “designed for temporary or emergency use when funds are low.”

9. How Do We Define Poverty? • Poverty thresholds define the poverty level • Used for statistical purposes – to show poverty over time • Adjusted for: • family size • number of children under 18 years of age • annually based on changes in the cost of living • Problems with this definition • Families living below poverty have inadequate incomes • Families just above line still teetering on the edge

10. How Do We Define Poverty? • Poverty guidelines • Issued each year by the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS). • Used for administrative purposes-- for instance determining who is eligible for federal programs like: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) or welfare.

11. Poverty Guidelines for Recent Years* Year First Four Person Each Add’l Person Family Person 1996 $7,740 $15,600 $2,620 1998 $8,050 $16,450 $2,800 2000 $8,350 $17,050 $2,900 2004 $9,310 $18,850 $3,180 2010 $10,830 $22,050 $3,740 * for the 48 contiguous states and D.C. Source: Department of Health and Human Services http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/10poverty.shtml

12. The Deserving Poor • Historian, Michael Katz, studies the history of poverty in the U.S. • He argues that there have always been a group of people called the deserving poor – they deserve to get assistance from the government • They are poor through no fault of their own • Prior to the 1970s, this group included the: • Aged • Children • Female headed families (through widowhood)

13. The Deserving Poor • Now the deserving poor are only: • Aged • Children • Disabled/mentally challenged • The deserving poor no longer includes single mothers because they came to be perceived as poor because they made bad choices – i.e. had a child outside of marriage • Shift from single motherhood due to widowhood vs. single motherhood due to nonmarital birth

14. How do Families “Make Ends Meet?” • Think about trying to live on $22,050 dollars per year as a single Mom and three children: • Rent • Food • Child care • Utilities • Electricity/Gas • Phone • Water • Cable • Clothing