To examine the impact of developmental monitoring on child referrals, a retrospective data review, comparing seven pilot programs with seven matched controls in Special Supplemental Nutrition Programs for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was completed. Pilot programs were trained on developmental monitoring and how to refer families to their…

This study examines how individuals assess administrative burdens and how these views change over time within the context of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides food to pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under age five. Using interview data from the Baby's First…

Each year, effective federal programs give parents the power to provide their children with affordable healthcare, nutritious food, stable housing, and early childhood education. These programs lift millions of children out of poverty, but also have long-term benefits--children in families who accessed these programs have higher educational…

Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards, an experimental, privately funded, conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to help families break the cycle of poverty, was the first comprehensive CCT program in a developed country. Launched in 2007 by New York City's Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), Family Rewards offered cash assistance to low-income…

Provides important information to better prepare advocates participating in the welfare reform debate. Presents excerpts from reports by the General Accounting Office and the Advisory Committee of the Department of Health and Human Services. Suggests that virtually all of the reform proposals require much more stringent work participation by…

The anti-poverty impact of government benefit programs has decreased since 1979 due to budget cuts during the Reagan Administration and the failure of states to keep benefits up with inflation. Since 1979, 30 percent of the increase in poverty has been among families with children, and half of the increase since 1981 is due to the declining…

Poverty has risen faster in recent years under measures of poverty that include the value of non-cash benefits. The Census Bureau recently issued nine measures of poverty which make the poverty population appear unrealistically small. In summary, these measures do the following: (l) count non-cash benefits because they include household purchasing…

This report uses data collected during the National Evaluation of School Nutrition Project (NESNP-II) in 1983-84 to describe the characteristics of students and households eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP), and the characteristics of NSLP and SBP participants and their households. The NESNP-II…

This manual delineates procedures for the mandatory verification of 3 percent of the applications for national school food programs. Two methods of selection are described: random and "error prone profiling." The latter involves selecting for verification those applicants whose recorded monthly income is closest to the eligibility cutoff…

An evaluation of efforts by the Carter and Reagan Administrations to reduce fraud, error, and mismanagement in social programs is provided, examining the food stamp program as an example. Data available do not make it possible to say whether these administrative and political efforts actually decreased fraud and error. (SLD)

This report presents the testimony of numerous expert witnesses who appeared at three hearings on the following topics: (1) Hunger and Related Nutritional Issues; (2) U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Assistance Programs; and (3) Domestic Hunger and Related Nutritional Issues. The following major issues were discussed: (1) the number of…

Over a period of 4 months in early 1994, Voices for Children investigated low-income children's access to 15 benefits for which they might be eligible. Of those benefits, six were further analyzed to determine how many eligible low-income children were actually receiving them. Counties were grouped by population size to determine if differences…

This paper discusses the nature and availability of early childhood care and education in Illinois and advances recommendations to improve the current system. It argues that current multiple federal, state, and local funding streams, with different eligibility requirements and administrations, divide families and programs into artificial and…