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Child Welfare Financing: What Do We Fund, How, and What Could Be Improved?

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  • Ron Haskins

Abstract

Government efforts toward the prevention, detection, and investigation of child abuse and neglect are carried out through the United States’ child welfare system—a complex web of programs that provide family assistance and promote child safety. Most funding for these activities is split among federal, state, and local governments and comprises specific child welfare–related funding (such as Titles IV-E and IV-B of the Social Security Act) and non–child welfare funding that is spent on programs that support poor and disadvantaged families (Medicaid and TANF). I provide an overview of these funding streams that finance the child welfare system, review the federal legislation since 1970 that has led to the current funding structure, and end with a discussion of how the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018 has the potential to create better outcomes for children and families by promoting prevention activities and program support with strong evidence of success.

Suggested Citation

  • Ron Haskins, 2020. "Child Welfare Financing: What Do We Fund, How, and What Could Be Improved?," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 692(1), pages 50-67, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:692:y:2020:i:1:p:50-67
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716220970909
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joseph J. Doyle Jr., 2007. "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1583-1610, December.
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    1. Fred Wulczyn, 2020. "Foster Care in a Life Course Perspective," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 692(1), pages 227-252, November.
    2. Megan Feely & Kerri M. Raissian & William Schneider & Lindsey Rose Bullinger, 2020. "The Social Welfare Policy Landscape and Child Protective Services: Opportunities for and Barriers to Creating Systems Synergy," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 692(1), pages 140-161, November.
    3. Mark F. Testa & David Kelly, 2020. "The Evolution of Federal Child Welfare Policy through the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018: Opportunities, Barriers, and Unintended Consequences," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 692(1), pages 68-96, November.

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