Research Reports and News Posted May
2002:
Fathers—Research | Children
& Families | Fatbers/Mothers
in Prison | Census Data
| Systemic Barriers
| Welfare Reform
| NCOFF Abstracts
-
A Closer Look at Changes in Children's Living Arrangements
in Low-Income Families, Policy Brief 02-3, Welfare, Children,
and Families: A Three City Study, John Hopkins University, May 2002.
Summary:
The proportion of children living with two adults increased from 34
percent to 38 percent in a sample of low-income families in Boston,
Chicago, and San Antonio interviewed twice, 16 months apart on average.
Virtually all of the net increase involved the addition of a man who
was not the childrenís biological father. Among women who were cohabiting
at the first interview, 42 percent had ended the relationship by the
second interview; and among women who were married, 18 percent had
separated or divorced. We suggest that the benefits for children of
the increase in two-adult families may be more limited than advocates
expect.
-
Non-Traditional Roles May Boost Risk of Heart Disease and
Death, Meeting Report, American Heart Association, April 24,
2002.
Press Release Excerpt: Househusbands and others whose work
or social roles are outside the norm suffer more coronary heart disease
and death from all causes, according to a new study presented today
at the American Heart Association's Asia Pacific Scientific Forum.
The study was conducted to determine if occupational stress/strain
is related to heart attack and death. Researchers did not find any
evidence that job/occupational strain (defined as high job demands
combined with low job control) is associated with death or coronary
heart disease but they did find a link between heart disease and
jobs/social roles that are non-traditional.
"These findings may indicate that people who perform work
or social roles incongruent with what is socially expected suffer
greater heart disease and death. Perhaps those men and women on
the cutting edge of social norms experience negative health consequences,"
says Elaine D. Eaker, Sc.D., of Eaker Epidemiology Enterprises,
LLC, in Chili, WI, the principal investigator on this ancillary
study from the Framingham Offspring Study. ...
They found that men who considered themselves househusbands most
of their adult years had an 82 percent higher 10-year death rate
compared to their counterparts who worked outside the home. The
study controlled for age, systolic blood pressure, the ratio of
total cholesterol/high density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass
index, smoking and diabetes.
Researchers also found that men with lower incomes and a lower
educational level had an increased risk of heart disease and death.
Men with personal incomes of less than $10,000 per year had twice
the risk of death compared to men with incomes of $50,000 or more
per year. Men in jobs with high prestige had a significantly lower
risk of heart disease and death. The highest prestige jobs were
defined as physicians, lawyers, teachers, architects and engineers.
Contrary to what was found among men in high prestige occupations,
researchers found that women in job positions characterized by high
decision authority and high job demands were at almost three times
the risk of developing heart disease compared to women in positions
with low authority and high demands. The associations found in these
women were not due to household responsibilities, number of children,
anxiety, tension, depression, hostility or anger. The study also
found that men who were widowed, divorced or separated had almost
twice the risk of death compared to married men.
"As social roles and norms change with time, it's hoped the harmful
effects of having jobs or social roles that are considered outside
the norm will be diminished," Eaker says.
Every Door Closed: Barriers Facing Parents With Criminal Records, Amy E. Hirsch, Sharon M. Dietrich, Rue Landau, Peter D. Schneider, Irv Ackelsberg, Judith Bernstein-Baker, and Joseph Hohenstein, Center for Law and Social Policy and Community Legal Services, Inc., May 2002.
Executive Summary excerpt:
Over 10 million children in the United States "have parents who were imprisoned at some point in their children's lives." (1) In 2001, approximately 400,000 mothers and fathers will finish serving their prison or jail sentences and return home eager to rebuild their families and rebuild their lives.
As these parents struggle to make a fresh start, they will encounter a myriad of legal barriers that will make it extraordinarily difficult for them to succeed in caring for their children, finding work, getting safe housing, going to school, accessing public benefits, or even, for immigrants, staying in the same country as their children. The report upon which this summary is based examines some of the barriers that, singly and in combination, tear families apart, create unemployment and homelessness, and guarantee failure, thereby harming parents and children, families, and communities.
An individual experiencing any one of these problems is likely to find that it dominates his or her life. But an exoffender might well confront several of these issues simultaneously. Sometimes these problems exacerbate each other. For instance, a parent who cannot find stable housing is unlikely to find or keep employment or reunify his or her family. An exoffender without income because of ineligibility for public benefits and lack of employment is unlikely to find stable housing. Cumulatively, these civil consequences of a criminal record can be devastating and will continue to punish an ex-offender -- and his or her family -- long after his or her formal sentence has been served.
This booklet provides a summary of a six-chapter report. The full report, which is available from the Center for Law and Social Policy (see the Acknowledgments page for more information), contains an introduction with background information on' parents with criminal records, and chapters on employment, public benefits, housing, child welfare, student loans, and immigration. These chapters feature stories of ex-offenders who have confronted these barriers, illustrating the inequities of these collateral consequences (see the Appendix for the report's table of contents.)
Employment:
Parents with criminal records, like other parents, need jobs to support their families and to be part of mainstream society. However, ex-offenders' criminal records typically create an employment barrier for the rest of their lives.
-- Criminal records result in legal prohibitions against employment in certain occupations. These legal restrictions vary greatly from state to state. An occupation in which employment of ex-offenders is strictly prohibited in one state may be subject to a licensing procedure in which evidence of rehabilitation is considered in another state, and not subject to any regulation at all in a third. Some states may establish a lifetime bar on employment; others may restrict employment for a limited number of years.
-- In professions in which criminal records are not the subject of regulation, employers nevertheless often refuse to hire or retain persons with criminal records. Employers can easily obtain criminal records on job applicants, and ex-offenders have great difficulty finding work, even many years after completing their sentences.
...
Conclusion:
Every Door Closed examines the civil consequences of criminal records -- not the sentence imposed by a judge for a crime but rather the ancillary effects of which the judge, defendant, prosecutor, and defense attorney may all be unaware. However, these civil consequences have a tremendous impact on the long-term ability of ex-offender parents to reintegrate into the community, resume parental responsibilities, and be productive members of society.
Many of the barriers described in this report are the result of policies intended to reduce crime and enhance community security. Yet they have the ironic and counterproductive effect of making it more difficult for parents with criminal records to successfully reenter the community, and of making it less likely that they will be able to take care of their children and avoid criminal activity.
The barriers that ex-offenders experience -- to getting a job, renting an apartment, getting a student loan, regaining custody of children from the child welfare system, accessing basic public benefits, or staying in this country -- make it virtually impossible to resume a normal life after even minor offenses. The cumulative impact of these barriers is that every door is closed to parents with criminal records.
For a copy of the complete Executive Summary or full report in PDF format, visit the CLASP web site.
Unlocking Options For Women: A Survey of Women in Cook County Jail,
Chicago Coalition For The Homeless, April 2002.
On October 31, 2001, 60 members of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless conducted in-depth,
one-on-one surveys with 235 of the 1,117 women detained that day in
Cook County Jail.
These surveys were designed and conducted to gain
an understanding of women's lives that may dictate and support policy
initiatives and further direct service providers in assisting those
in need. This study was conducted to document the lives of women detained
in Cook County Jail and promote understanding of their many experiences.
It reveals a great deal about the lives, current circumstances, and
future hopes of 235 women detained that day.
Results: Study participants were women present on the specified
date the surveys were administered. This sample does not represent all
women detained in the jail on October 31, 2001, nor is it a random sample.
However, we believe that the collective results display a reliable picture
of the lives of women detained in Cook County Jail.
Key Findings: 82 percent of all women detained at Cook County
Jail in October 2001 were charged with non-violent offenses.
Of all 235 women surveyed:
- 45 percent reported being detained two to five times.
- 82 percent reported being mothers.
- Women in jail are survivors of sexual assault and
domestic violence at two and three times the national
average.
- 54 percent reported being homeless in the 30 days
prior to entering Cook County Jail.
- 13 percent said they were offered assistance
finding housing while they were detained in jail.
- 23 percent of unemployed women said they were
not employed because they had no place to live.
- Women without housing are twice as likely to be
detained more than six times.
- 54 percent said they were not employed in the 30
days prior to entering Cook County Jail.
- 60 percent of unemployed women stated that
substance abuse was a barrier to employment.
- 36 percent stated they could not get needed help
for an alcohol or substance abuse problem.
- 34 percent were regularly involved in some form of
prostitution.
- 29 percent of women said they had an application
denied or were cut-off from government assistance in
the 12 months prior to entering jail.
Recommendation:
Pass legislation that provides alternatives to incarceration
sentencing options so Cook County judges can sentence
women to services rather than prison. Create the model
Residential Treatment and Transition Center for Women,
which will help detainees access the many services they
need, reduce recidivism, and help heal families.
Recommendation:
Create a comprehensive housing plan to help women in
jail secure housing upon release by augmenting existing
resources and investing in the development of affordable
housing for formerly detained women.
Recommendation:
Create Government assistance programs that meet the
specific needs of formerly detained women and promote
utilization of existing supports including childcare
assistance, medical coverage, and transportation assistance.
Women should be linked with these services
immediately upon release from jail. Conviction of any
type should not be a reason to bar women from receiving
benefits.
Recommendation:
Increase resources in jail to assist women address trauma
and other effects of violence. Immediately upon release
women should have a safe place to go and be linked to
community-based survivor supports.
Recommendation:
Increase resources for community-based inpatient and
outpatient treatment programs that provide holistic,
gender specific models of care that can accommodate
women immediately upon request and provide linkage to
women in jail.
The 'Typical' Woman
The 235 surveys indicate that the typical woman surveyed
is African American and has at least two children
under the age of 18 who are in the custody of her family.
She is most likely homeless before entering jail and is at
high risk of being homeless upon release. She is most
likely a survivor of childhood abuse and of adult violence
at the hands of a partner. She may have a substance
abuse history or an emotional or mental health problem,
possibly linked to her prior experiences of abuse, for
which she could not access treatment and care.
The typical woman surveyed has a limited education,
experiences high levels of unemployment and has been
detained in Cook County Jail two to five times thus far.
She may also be regularly involved in prostitution for a
survival need such as a place to stay or to satisfy an
untreated addiction. If regularly involved in prostitution,
she is even more likely to be a survivor of violence, face
increased rates of detention, and be homeless when not
detained in jail.
Policy Recommendations:
Women were asked, "At what point in your life would
outside help have been beneficial?" The quantitative
data collected from these surveys are enhanced by the
many responses to this question. From these collective
responses we glean some of the most salient recommendations
on how best to assist women detained at Cook
County Jail.
The Illinois legislature should conduct an in-depth
analysis of the impact of detention on women who are
charged for committing nonviolent offenses. If many of
the women surveyed had access to benefits, services, job
training, and housing while not in jail and upon release,
chances are they would not be involved in an activity
that leads to their arrest. Instead of burdening an already
overcrowded county jail system, the Illinois legislature
and Cook County government should create sentencing
options and invest in programs that not only assist
women leaving jail but also are geared toward early
intervention and prevention.
-
The Characteristics of Families Remaining on Welfare, Policy
Brief 02-2, Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study,
John Hopkins University, March 2002.
Summary:
Women remaining on TANF in three cities—Boston, Chicago, and
San Antonio—have average employment rates of 18 percent and poverty
rates of 85 percent. These compare to an employment rate among TANF
leavers of about 60 percent and a poverty rate of 70 percent, on average.
About 40 percent of stayers have less than a high school education,
and many suffer from high levels of depression and domestic violence;
these characteristics do not differ greatly from those of TANF leavers.
They are more likely to report being in poor health than are leavers.
Employed recipients have higher levels of education and better health
than nonemployed recipients. They also have significantly higher income
because their earnings are not fully offset by lower benefits. Nonemployed
recipients nevertheless have higher incomes than nonemployed leavers,
who have neither earnings nor TANF benefits.
-
The Unfinished Business of Welfare Reform: Improving Prospects
for Poor Children and Youth — Perspectives from Research, A
Special Child Trends Report, Child Trends, April 2002.
Executive Summary: For adult welfare recipients, in some important
respects, the 1996 welfare reform law has been a success. More parents
– notably single mothers – are working, and welfare caseloads
have plunged. Still, while the lives of adults changed dramatically
when they exchanged welfare checks for paychecks, that has not necessarily
been the case for children. Outcomes for children affected by welfare
reform remain largely unchanged. Moreover, these children generally
remain disadvantaged and at risk.
We base these conclusions on our analysis of both indicator data
measuring child wellbeing during the years following the implementation
of the 1996 law and results from experimental evaluations of welfare-to-work
programs. To illuminate this evidence, we draw on insights derived
from the extensive body of knowledge on child development and the
factors that influence child outcomes.
Dozens of indicators of child well-being show neither a pattern
of solid improvement nor substantial decline for children. At the
same time, low-income children – who include children of both
current and former welfare recipients – continue to lag behind
children in more affluent households on these measures, putting
them at risk for poor development. Experimental evaluations of welfare-to-work
programs show that these programs generally resulted in no, or only
weak, patterns of change for children. But there were some impacts
on children, and they were both favorable and unfavorable. Favorable
impacts were more likely to occur when mothers were able to get
and keep a job and increase family income and, to some degree, when
mothers were able to raise their educational level.
Unfavorable impacts were found in the absence of such progress,
and for two particular subgroups of children: adolescents and children
in families that were new to welfare.
Taken together, both the indicator data and results from experimental
evaluations suggest directions for programs and policy, including
increasing the income of former welfare recipients who have now
joined the ranks of the working poor; responding to the special
needs of vulnerable subgroups of children affected by welfare reform;
and ensuring that child care programs not only support mothers’
employment needs but also their children’s development needs,
to give just three examples.
As federal and state officials chart the future course of welfare
policies, they are fortunate to have a substantial body of research
to guide them. If they heed that guidance, reauthorization and the
state actions that follow could offer a new chance to break the
cycle of disadvantage that limits the horizons of some of the nation’s
poorest children, thus completing the “unfinished business”
of welfare reform.
For a copy of the complete report in PDF format, visit the Child
Trends web site.
-
Credentials Count: How California’s Community Colleges
Help Parents Move from Welfare to Self-Sufficiency, Anita Mathur,
Judy Reichle, Chuck Wiseley, and Julie Strawn, Center for Law
and Social Policy and California Community Colleges Chancellor’s
Office, May 2002.
In August 1997, the state legislature created CalWORKs as California's
version of federal welfare reform, known nationally as the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. ÝCalWORKs provides
that each eligible adult recipient may receive up to 60 months of
assistance during their lifetime.Ý All adult recipients must work
or participate in welfare-to-work activities to remain eligible.Ý
Welfare-to-work activities continue for 18 to 24 months depending
on when the recipient first applied for assistance.Ý After 18 to 24
months, adult recipients must be employed; or, if unemployed with
good cause, they must perform community service to remain eligible
throughout the 60-month lifetime period.
The recipient's welfare-to-work plan may include attendance at
a California Community College if the county welfare department
agrees that it will help lead the recipient toward unsubsidized
employment, and the college affirms the recipient's progress is
satisfactory.Ý The CalWORKs student must participate in 32 hours
of education a week at minimum (including study hours at county
discretion); or must combine education with other work activities
to satisfy the 32-hour welfare-to-work activity requirement.Ý In
2000, 28 percent of California's 400,000 adult welfare recipients
enrolled in at least one course at one of the 108 community colleges
in California.
This report, prepared by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's
Office for the Center for Law and Social Policy, describes state-funded
programs and services offered to CalWORKs recipients enrolled in
community colleges.Ý The report also details employment and earnings
of CalWORKs students who recently exited community college and compares
these to the students' employment and earnings while in school.Ý
To place the outcomes of these recipients in context, the results
are contrasted with those of the general community college student
body.Ý
Ý For a copy of the complete report in HTML or PDF format, visit
the CLASP web site.
New Citations from
NCOFF's FatherLit Database
|
