by Linda M. Burton, Ph.D., James B. Duke Professor of Sociology, Duke University, and Andrew J. Cherlin, Ph.D., Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor of Sociology and Public Policy, Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University
Trust is jiggly, and it can look like something it is not. You can't trust trust, and you can't trust Jell-O. That's what I've learned from working with [low-income couples]."
Families, Work and Unemployment, Family Stress/Coping and Networks for Help, Poverty/Welfare, Public Policy, Research/Theory/Methodology, Rural Families
Author Don Peck pulls together information from many places-including scholarly sources familiar to NCFR. This article caught my eye because of two family scholars he quotes-Glen Elder and Kathryn Edin (speakers at NCFR conferences)-as well as input from Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman and other experts.
According to the U.S. Census latest update, the official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2%-40 million Americans. Health care continues to be a major factor in the lives of the poor, with an estimated 45 million uninsured. Other aspects of poverty affect families in a myriad of sociological and developmental ways. The antecedents and the answers can be elusive. In this issue of NCFR Report, your colleagues share some research and commentary on this population.
Once the research design is established, the data collected, and the proper calculations made, researchers must still ask, "What do these findings mean for real families in real situations? And what are the policy implications for government, business, and family-serving organizations?" In other words, "So what?" In this issue, we attempt to help researchers answer this question. We offer suggestions on how to present research findings to policymakers and engage students in policy discussions. We also explore the relationship between public policy and child care, child custody, single-mother families and other issues.
Carrie Saxon Perry, the former mayor of Hartford, Connecticut, once defined poverty as a lack of options: "The less choice you have, the poorer you are." That describes the life of working-poor families. A lack of living-wage jobs often means that families must live in unsafe housing, forego healthcare, or eat whatever they can find at the food shelf. In this issue, we explore the lives of those who are "trying to make a way outa' no way."
In 1996, the U.S. shifted to a "work first" welfare system. For example, the work exemption for parents of children under 3 years of age was repealed, and less emphasis was placed on skills development and education. In this issue, we explore the effects of welfare reform on families and children and look at ways to facilitate the transition from welfare to work.
