National

Since the early 1990s, the social safety net for families with children in the United States has undergone an epochal transformation. Aid to poor working families has become more generous. In contrast, assistance to the deeply poor has declined sharply, and what remains often takes the form of in-kind aid. A historical view finds that this dramatic change mirrors others. For centuries, the nature and form of poor relief has been driven in part by shifting cultural notions of which social groups constitute the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor. This line was firmly redrawn in the 1990s.

This study used 115 cohabiting couple partners’ 21-day diaries, with which they reported each evening on their moods and their relationships, to test hypotheses about connections between withdrawal following conflict, attachment insecurity, and affective recovery from conflict (i.e., post-conflict relationship satisfaction, positive and negative mood, and intimacy). Individuals reported on their own and their partners’ post-conflict withdrawals.

This report uses the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau to describe custodial families served by the IV-D program, a federally mandated program that promotes parental responsibility and family self-sufficiency by providing families with child support services. (Excerpt from author summary)

The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement collects data from state child support agencies on the number of support orders that do not have a dollar support amount, referred to here as zero orders. These may reflect different types of orders – medical support only, shared custody, arrears only, or current support with no amount due. Zero orders have been increasing over time within the child support program. Today, they represent 10% of support orders nationally.

This set of selections focuses on Social Capital and Foster Care Youth. SSRC Selections highlight research, evaluation reports, and other publications that inform the field about key issues in, and effective practices for, fostering economic self-sufficiency.

This set of selections focuses on Rural Poverty in America. SSRC Selections highlight research, evaluation reports, and other publications that inform the field about key issues in, and effective practices for, fostering economic self-sufficiency.

This set of selections focuses on Lead Poisoning and Housing. SSRC selections highlight research, evaluation reports, and other publications that inform the field about key issues in, and effective practices for, fostering economic self-sufficiency.

This set of selections focuses on Lead Poisoning and Behavioral and Academic Outcomes. SSRC Selections highlight research, evaluation reports, and other publications that inform the field about key issues in, and effective practices for, fostering economic self-sufficiency.

This set of selections focuses on Financial Literacy. SSRC Selections highlight research, evaluation reports, and other publications that inform the field about key issues in, and effective practices for, fostering economic self-sufficiency.

On June 12, 2019, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm (EDT), the Self-Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse (SSRC) hosted a free webinar entitled Pathways to High-Quality Jobs for Young Adults.  The webinar explored: (1) which job characteristics are relevant to measuring job quality, (2) how education, training, and work-related experiences across the lifespan may contribute to job quality at age 29, and (3) the ways in which interventions and policies can support youth from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain higher quality jobs.