Welfare Reform on the Web (February 2006): Child Welfare – Overseas

Welfare reform and child fostering: pinpointing affected child populations

R. Jagganathan, M.J. Camasso and S.S. McLanahan

Social Science Quarterly, vol.86, 2005, Supplement, p.1080-1103

This article examines the impact of the New Jersey Family Development Program on child fostering. This programme contained a bundle of welfare reform elements which together increased the costs of single motherhood and made two-parent families more attractive. The study found no impact when both ongoing and new cases were combined. It also found no impact on ongoing cases when black, Hispanic and white children were examined separately. However, among new cases, the programme decreased the probability of black children living with foster families by 28%, while increasing the likelihood of white children being fostered by 70%.