Belonging Everywhere & Nowhere:

Correne Saunders, MPP

Catherine E. Born, Ph.D.

Pamela C. Ovwigho, Ph.D.

Paper presented at the 48th annual workshop of the National Association for Welfare Research and Statistics

This research was funded by the Maryland Department of Human Resources

August 2008

Children in Non-Parental TANF Cases

2

Background

• Rising proportion of non-parental TANF cases in most states.

• Non-parental TANF cases are exempt from most TANF requirements.

Despite involvement with other public programs such as child support and child welfare, they are not the target population of any program

& may have unmet service needs.

3

TANF focuses on case types

Maryland’s TANF caseload (10/05)

N = 22,793

Adult on Grant61%

Child Only39%

4

Non-Parental, Adult on Grant

3%

Parental, Adult on Grant62%

Parental, Child Only11%

Non-Parental, Child Only

24%

Case types don’t always line up with family relationships

Children in Maryland’s active TANF caseload (10/05)N = 43,270

5

Relationships in non-parental cases

27.0%

4.5%

2.8%

64.3%

28.3%

73.0%

Living w/Parent Grandchild/Great-grandchild Niece/Nephew Cousin Sibling

One out of four TANF children live with a relative. Most are grandchildren.

6

Children’s ages

Children living with relatives tend to be older than children in parental cases.

10.9%18.3%

23.7%22.4%

36.6%

41.7%

39.0%37.9%

34.3%

38.4%32.2% 36.6%

18.3%

5.2% 3.1%1.6%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Child Only Adult on Grant Child Only Adult on Grant

13-18 years6-12 years1-5 yearsLess than 1 year

Non-Parental Parental

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Welfare History

Children in non-parental cases and those with a non-recipient parent have longer welfare histories.

15.0

38.1

58.966.6

12.3

38.4

59.3 61.1

15.0

40.0

58.1 60.7

11.3

30.1

40.2 39.9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

3 yrs or younger 4 to 7 years 8 to 12 years 13 to 18 years

Child Age

Num

ber

of m

onth

s on

TA

NF

in p

ast

8 1/

2 ye

ars

Non-parental child only Non-parental, adult on grant Parental, child only Parental, adult on grant

8

Welfare History: Children Age 7 and Younger

On average, young children in non-parental cases have received TANF for three-fifths of their lives.

58.1% 60.3%

47.8% 44.1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Child only Adult on Grant Child only Adult on Grant

Per

cen

t of

Tim

e on

TA

NF

Cas

e

ParentalNon-Parental

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Child Support Status

Children in non-parental TANF cases are slightly more likely to have an active child support case

79.3% 81.2%

64.6%74.8%

19.8% 16.2%

31.2%20.6%

0.9% 2.6% 4.3% 4.6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Child Only Adult on Grant Child Only Adult on Grant

Unknown

Known butInactive in 10/05

Known & Activeto CSES in 10/05

Non-Parental Parental

10

Paternity Status

Children living with relatives are more likely to be waiting for paternity establishment

9.5% 10.1% 12.2% 9.7%

44.5%50.3%

34.1% 36.7%

37.4%36.3%

44.1% 46.5%

8.6% 9.6% 7.0%3.4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Child Only Adult on Grant Child Only Adult on Grant

Not required

Required &Established

Required butnotestablishedUnknown

Non-Parental Parental

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Child Welfare

Children living with relatives are more likely to concurrently receive child welfare-related social services1 and TANF

18.3% 17.7%

10.4% 10.4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Child Only Adult on Grant Child Only Adult on Grant

Per

cent

Rec

eivi

ng S

ervi

ces

in 1

0/05

1“Social Services” includes Adoption, Foster Care, Child Protective Services, Kinship Care, Intensive Family Services, Intake,

Requests of Other Agencies, Services to Families, and the Guardianship Assistance Project

Non-Parental Parental

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Kinship Care

However, fewer than 10% of children living with relatives were concurrently receiving formal Kinship Care services

8.4% 5.7%

91.6% 94.3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Non-Parental, Child Only Non-Parental, Adult on Grant

Kinship care No kinship care

13

Maltreatment

• Complete maltreatment history data are available for children born 1/99 or later.

• Among these young children, those living with relatives were more likely to have been reported as a victim in at least one investigation.

22.2%

12.7%

6.4% 4.3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Child Only Adult on Grant Child Only Adult on Grant

Children age 6 and under

Per

cent

Rep

orte

d as

Vic

tim

Non-Parental Parental

14

Maltreatment, Cont.

Among those reported as victims of maltreatment, the report was most recent for children in parental child-only cases.

26.323.7

19.823.3

0

12

24

36

Child Only Adult on Grant Child Only Adult on Grant

Victims age 6 and younger

Mea

n #

of

Mon

ths

Sin

ce

Mal

trea

tmen

t In

vest

igat

ion

Non-Parental Parental

15

Conclusions

• While many children receiving TANF have risk factors, children in non-parental TANF cases seem to be worse off:– Longer welfare histories

– More likely to be waiting for paternity establishment

– More likely to have been determined to be a victim of child maltreatment

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Conclusions, Cont.

• While children in non-parental TANF cases are involved with multiple public programs concurrently, it is not clear what services they are actually receiving:– Many are still waiting for paternity establishment before

child support can be ordered

– Few are receiving supportive/long-term social services such as formal Kinship Care

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Implications

• States are beginning to pay more attention to the TANF child only caseload, but our results suggest this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of cases that may be of concern.

• We need to know more about the children and adults involved in relative TANF cases, which requires further study; and

• It may be time to seriously consider a separate & targeted program for these families in order to prevent gaps in service provision.

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Contact Information

Thank you!

Pamela Ovwigho, Research DirectorFamily Welfare Research & Training Group

University of Maryland, School of Social Work525 W. Redwood St., Baltimore, MD

povwigho@ssw.umaryland.edu

www.familywelfare.umaryland.edu