Description/Abstract
This paper addresses issues which arise at the juncture of welfare and disability policies. Using preliminary data from a recent survey of current and recent AFDC recipients in California, we find that disabilities and chronic health problems affect the mothers or children in 43 percent of all households in the AFDC system. The presence of one or more children with disabilities or chronic illnesses is found to have an impact on the economic well-being of families, with increased levels of direct hardship reported by families caring for one or more severely impaired children. Potential causes of higher levels of hardship are examined by considering the impact of direct expenses associated with the care of the child(ren) and reductions in the mother’s probability of paid employment. SSI receipt is found to have a modest antipoverty effect for families with special needs children, reducing the prevalence of poverty and extreme poverty for families even after the additional direct costs of caring for these children are considered.
Document Type
Working Paper
Date
4-1996
Language
English
Funder(s)
Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
Funding ID
grant #94ASPE263A
Series
Income Security Policy Series
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Karin D’Agostino for creative assistance with charts and tables, and to Douglas A. Wolf for econometric advice and assistance with statistical analyses.
Disciplines
Economic Policy | Economics | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Public Policy
ISSN
1061 1843
Recommended Citation
Meyers, Marcia K.; Lukemeyer, Anna; and Smeeding, Timothy M., "Work, Welfare, and the Burden of Disability: Caring for Special Needs of Children in Poor Families" (1996). Center for Policy Research. 404.
https://surface.syr.edu/cpr/404
Source
Local Input
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Included in
Economic Policy Commons, Economics Commons, Public Policy Commons
Additional Information
Policy studies paper no.12