Economically Disconnected Families Face Challenges
by Kate M. Kelly on July 10, 2012
Report Offers Cross-Agency Collaboration as Policy Solution
A new report by the West Coast Poverty Center highlights the experiences of “economically disconnected” low-income families who receive income from neither employment nor government cash assistance, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Compared to families receiving income from employment or cash assistance, economically disconnected families were characterized by higher rates of:
- Out-of-home child placement,
- Alcohol and drug abuse, and
- Lower rates of parental involvement in child welfare systems.
Economic disconnection was further linked to:
- Challenges inherent in the TANF system such as lack of housing, employment, or food resources, as well as
- Pre-existing and undiagnosed mental and physical health disorders.
The report suggests that cross-agency collaboration between economic services and the child-welfare system can help alleviate this growing problem.
Click here to read the full report.
Monarch Housing Associates
Building Homes
Transforming Lives
1990-2013
Tagged as: low income families, poverty, ssi, TANF
Kate Kelly joined Monarch Housing Associates in March of 2011. Prior to that, she worked for seven years at the Partnership for Strong Communities in Hartford, Connecticut as the Reaching Home Campaign Manager. Managing the statewide effort to end long-term homelessness, Kate effectively implemented statewide advocacy campaigns to fund over 700 new supportive housing units for individuals and families. She has experience directing fundraising events and presenting federal and state conferences. At the Partnership, she educated state and federal legislators and staff about supportive housing homelessness issues and advocated for new funding sources. She has also developed public forums that led to formal policy recommendations and educated local constituencies such as policymakers, legislators and funders. Ms. Kelly received her B.A. in government from the University of Notre Dame and an M.S.W from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. Click here to send Ms. Kelly an email.
Kate has written 958 awesome articles.
Subscribe to Monarch Housing's feed via RSS or EMAIL to receive daily or weekly updates.
