Parenthood in Poverty

We provide comprehensive evidence on how new parenthood impacts the lives of economically disadvantaged women in the U.S. Using high-frequency individual-level administrative panel data from a large urban county combined with an event study design, we document far-reaching and persistent changes. New parenthood triggers large eligibility changes that sharply and greatly increase enrollment in Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF by more than 50\%, underscoring the profound importance of the social safety net for new mothers with low incomes. Simultaneously, new parenthood appears to motivate significant behavioral shifts, with increased uptake (+30%) in substance use disorder treatment and notable reductions in criminal behavior (-50%). However, not all is rosy: first-time parenthood precipitates increased housing instability, causing a doubling in homeless shelter stays, and eventually leading to a large and lasting increase in reliance on public housing. Robustness checks, including two separate (matched) difference-in-differences analyses, suggest robustness to endogeneity in the timing of first parenthood.