Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/ShelleyWatersBoots

In this brief will examine the insurance status of low-income parents nationally and by state. We then describe the extent to which low-income parents have children who are enrolled in Medicaid and the potential to cover them under Medicaid through section 1931 provisions.

This supplement to the main report The Cost of Protecting Vulnerable Children: Understanding Federal, State, and Local Child Welfare Spending (Occasional Paper 20) provides state-by-state data on spending for child welfare services in state fiscal year 1996. Charts detail sources of funding for child welfare services and spending by type of service, type of out-of-home placement, and type of child welfare expenditure.

Data from the Urban Institute's 50-state survey of child welfare expenditures provides new insight into how states differ in their strategies for financing child welfare. Among the conclusions: total child welfare spending is greater than previously estimated; non-traditional federal funding streams are more important than previously assumed; financing child welfare varies significantly by state; the cost of residential and group care placements is overwhelming; and there is little funding for prevention.

When the demand for child care assistance exceeds the available federal and state child care funds, the group most likely to be left without assistance is low-income working families with no connection to the welfare system. Despite a $600 million increase in federal funds for child care, there is only enough money to serve half of the low-income families needing child care assistance. This paper also examines who receives child care assistance and who pays for it.

There are two Highlights for each state. The income support and social services Highlights look at basic income support programs, employment and training programs, child care, child support enforcement, and the last-resort safety net. The Highlights capture policies in place and planned in 1996 and early 1997.

The state reports describe the safety net and health care programs in place for low-income people on the eve of welfare reform. The reports also analyze the particular circumstances that are shaping the state's response to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). The state reports are based on case studies in the respective state.

An integral part of the social services safety net, child welfare agencies often act as the provider of last resort. While the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) made few changes to federal child protection programs specifically, provisions of the legislation have potentially far-reaching effects on the child welfare system. This brief explores the implications of the new welfare regulations on the funds available for child protection programs, states' ability to collect federal foster care and adoption assistance reimbursements, and state methods for financing kinship foster care.

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