Temporary Assistance to Needy Families: vital strategy to prevent non-marital births.

The impending reauthorization of the welfare reform block grant for the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program provides an opportunity for the federal government to recognize that teen pregnancy prevention is a vital strategy to address non-marital births in the United States. The numbers underscore the value of the strategy.

Approximately 80 percent--or 400,000--of the nearly 500,000 teen births (1) that occurred in the United States in 2000 were non-marital. (2) And historically, 40 to 50 percent of older mothers who receive welfare became parents first as teenagers. Such mothers also tend to have longer stays on welfare.

Fully 50 percent of all first non-marital births are to teens. Researchers recently noted that increases in non-marital first births have driven the increase in non-marital fertility over the last 25 years. (3) In addition, approximately 20 percent of the 500,000 teen births that took place in the United States in 2000 were not the teen mother's first child: nearly 100,000 of those teens were giving birth to a second child. (4)

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) makes these recommendations:

* Replicate and adapt proven teenage pregnancy-prevention programs. Continue to evaluate new pregnancy-prevention innovations

The federal government should create a Family Formation Fund to redirect the $100 million in "illegitimacy" bonus funds currently rewarded annually to up to 5 states that reduce their non-marital births (and decrease their abortion rate).

This Family Formation Fund should, among other goals, provide states and localities with the money to replicate proven teen pregnancy-prevention initiatives. Strong evaluation evidence, now available, provides models of effective programs that span a wide spectrum of ideology and would allow communities to choose curricula and activities that meet their own needs and norms. Some of the re-directed monies also should be spent on testing emerging, promising program modes.

* Revisit the restrictive abstinence-only-until-marriage-education currently funded by the federal government

There is currently no research that indicates the federal government's abstinence-only-until-marriage education programs help prevent pregnancy There is, however, new evidence that this approach may put uninformed individuals at risk for unintended pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted diseases.

In the face of such potential health risks, the federal government needs to closely scrutinize its continued funding ($533 million in combined federal and state matching dollars since 1996) of such programs. To the extent that federal funds are made available, states should have the flexibility to shape their own abstinence and pregnancy-prevention education programs. (5)

* Implement a "transitional compliance" period during which teen parents can begin to participate in TANF

TANF reauthorization should encourage states to reach out to needy teen parents through a "transitional compliance" provision--a period of 180 days for those who do not meet certain program rules when they apply This would give states time to provide customized case management to help teens meet these requirements.

TANF requires teen parents to meet two eligibility criteria that reflect goals specific to teens--attending school and living in an approved setting. Participants are also subject to other eligibility rules not limited to teens, such as cooperation regarding child support.

Teen mothers seeking TANF services sometimes do not meet these requirements when they apply. Most state policies allow caseworkers the flexibility to work with such teens. Yet, emerging research suggests that this flexibility is not used by some local officials and this results in a "perverse effect" since the very teen parents who need the help the most--those who are not in school/training and those without a proper place to live are sometimes not even given applications.

A federal transitional compliance period would send the signal to states that Congress wants needy teen parents to enterTANF in order to get assistance in meeting the requirements related to schooling/training and living arrangements.

* Increase funding for "second chance" homes for TANF parents

To assist teen parents who do not have appropriate living arrangements, funds beyond the TANF block grant amounts are needed for "second chance" homes.

The goal of residing with parents and relatives may make sense for many teen parents, but it may prove problematic for others. The likelihood of family violence should exempt some from such living arrangements. (6)

In addition, others should not have to live with relatives who might undercut efforts to raise a child or with those who might cause emotional distress. (7)

Second chance homes provide teen mothers a stable and safe place to live while receiving TANF support services. A CLASP survey has found that 13 out of 20 state administrators that addressed the question of implementing the living arrangement rule had specific concerns about a lack of alternative housing options or difficulties in assessing the safety of current living arrangements. (8)

This underscores the need for alternative living arrangements (9) as well as the need for improved assessment of living arrangements. (10)

While $19 million was recently added to the Transitional Living Program (part of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program) there remains a pressing need for additional funds for both parenting and non-parenting teens in need of supportive shelter.

* Improve current sanction policies for TANF parents

Improvements to existing TANF sanction policies should benefit parents of all ages. CLASP recommends that they better address such issues as the sanction notice process as well as how sanctions are resolved.

For all families, sanctions are significant because they result in the loss of immediate income. Very young families may prove particularly vulnerable to the ill effects of such financial instability. There is evidence of poor outcomes for children in welfare families resulting from family turbulence related to such sanctions. (11)

A 2000 CLASP survey found that nearly 2,500 teen parents in five responding states were sanctioned in just one month for failure to comply with TANF's school/training requirement. (12)

The sanction rate for teen parents in these five states ranged from six to 23 percent, and all five of the states imposed a higher sanction rate for teen parents in comparison to the sanction rate for families. (13)

Reauthorization of TANF should be viewed as an opportunity to foster provisions that would further an understanding of the extent of this problem, why it is happening, and its impact.

Some initial ideas include:

1. Arranging for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study of sanctions

2. Arranging for in-state reports on teen parent sanctions

An examination of TANF programs in a handful of states would help to fully understand the nature, extent, and impact of sanctions. Such a study would explore questions like: "What rules are generating the most sanctions?" "Are teens sanctioned at rates higher than families headed by adults?" and "Are sanction policies understood by teen parents in advance of the sanction?"

State-collected data, reported by county (or other appropriate jurisdiction), should help administrators self-assess operations related to sanctions. The federal government already requires states to report sanctions relating to a teen parent's failure to attend school or to comply with an individual responsibility plan. Such data could serve as a management tool to help improve the system of sanctions. The in-state report should collect information on sanction procedures that local jurisdictions use in an effort to avoid inappropriate ones.

* Eliminate the time-limit clock for teen parents complying with TANF's education and training requirements. Start the time clock at age 20

For those TANF teen parents who are complying with education and training, the time-limit clock should not start.

TANF's time-limited assistance and the "work first" approach are intended as incentives for young parents to find employment. While minor teen parents are usually directed toward education, older teen parents often are not. These include parents as young as 18 who are not participating as full-time students in a secondary school or equivalent training.

New research indicates that education may be particularly important if teen mothers are to achieve economic self-sufficiency. By their late twenties, women who have ever received welfare, who have not completed high school, who have given birth as a teen, or who have had three or more children are unlikely to find a "good" job, (14) relative to other recipients without such characteristics.

In addition, less than one in five women who gave birth to their first child before turning 18 years of age are predicted to work primarily in a "good" job, even though more than half will be working steadily by their late twenties. (15)

Such outcomes suggest that time limits may force disadvantaged TANF recipients, such as teen mothers or those without a high school education, into the workforce before they are ready. Those who are teen mothers and have no high school education are particularly challenged in securing employment with livable wages.

* Improve collection of teen parent data that include more specific information

States collecting data on TANF services should include such basic information on teen parents as the estimated number of TANF-eligible teen parents in the state, assessment procedures, and inter-agency coordination.

A CLASP survey analysis of teen parent participation in TANF found that the number of young parents eligible for TANF services is likely undercounted and that the status of such parents is often unknown.

For instance, among the 10 states that reported to CLASP, the number of teen parents participating in their TANF programs was half that reported by the federal government. The 10 states were also often unable to report the number of teens subject to the state's school/training requirement or where teen parents were living. (16)

While federal reporting may improve some of the limited information available about teen parents participating in TANF, more state data is needed to obtain an accurate picture of the treatment of teen parents.

CONCLUSION

With TANF up for reauthorization this year as part of welfare reform, the federal government has a unique opportunity to make this program a vital part of its teen pregnancy-prevention efforts.

SIECUS believes that the CLASP recommendations discussed in this article would go a long way toward malting TANF a valuable and realistic program.

(This article was adapted with permission from CLASP's reauthorization comments to the US. Department of Health and Human Services.)

--Editor

For more information, contact Jodie Levin-Epstein or Christine Grisham, ([e-mail] or [e-mail], CLASP, 1015 15th Street N.W., Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005. Phone: [phone].

REFERENCES

(1.) "Facts at a Glance," Child Trends, August 2001.

(2.) Ibid.

(3.) L. L. Wu, L. L. Bumpers, and K. Musick, "Historical and Life Course Trajectories of Non-marital Childbearing," IRP Abstract Report # 829.

(4.) S. J. Ventura, T. J. Matthews, and B. E. Hamilton, "Births to Teenagers in the United States, 1940-2000," National Vital Statistics Reports, vol. 49, no. 10, (U.S. Division of Vital Statistics: September 25, 2001).

(5.) The abstinence program is not a part of TANF but was enacted at the same time as part of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

(6.) D. Boyer and D. Fine, "Sexual Abuse as Factor in Adolescent Pregnancy and Child Maltreatment," Family Planning Perspectives, vol. 24 (New York: The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1992).

(7.) New Chance was a demonstration project, beginning in the late 1980s and conducted at 16 sites around the country. The voluntary program provided comprehensive services including education, training, family planning, and child care; E. A. Rosman and H. Yoshikawa, "Effects of Welfare Reform on Children of Adolescent Mothers: Moderation by Maternal Depression, Father Involvement, and Grandmother Involvement," Women & Health, vol. 32, no. 3.

(8.) Duffy, forthcoming.

(9.) K. Sylvester, "Seeking Supervision: Second Chance Homes and the TANF Minor Teen Parent Living Arrangement Rule," Social Policy Action Network, March 1999; Second Chance Homes Fact Sheet, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, October 2000. Available online at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/2ndchance-homes00/index.htm.

(10.) J. Levin-Epstein, Seeking Supervision: State Policy Choices in TANF Minor Parent Living Arrangement Rule, CLASP, March 1999. Available online at: http://www.clasp.org/pubs/teens/Seeking_Supervision.htm@toptop

(11.) K. A. Moore, et al., Turbulence and Child Well-being (New Federalism Project, Series B, No. B-16, June 2000).

(12.) R. G. Wood and J. Burghardt, Implementing Welfare Reform Requirements for Teenage Parents: Lessons from Experience in Four States, vols. 1 and 2, October 1997.

(13.) Welfare Reform: State Sanction Policies and Number of Families Affected (Washington: General Accounting Office, March 2000).

(14.) Defined as a job that pays at least $8.00 an hour in 1993 Consumer Price Index dollars, and for at least 35 hours a week.

(15.) L. Pavetti and G. Acs, Moving Up, Moving Out, or Going Nowhere? A Study of the Employment Patterns of Young Women (Washington: The Urban Institute, 1997).

(16.) Duffy, forthcoming.

RELATED ARTICLE: AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS SUPPORTS ADOPTION BY SAME-SEX PARTNERS 

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced this month its support for both "coparent" and "second-parent" adoption by same-sex couples.

Coparent adoption grants a couple joint custody of a child, while second-parent adoption refers to the process whereby one parent maintains legal parental status and the partner seeks equal parental rights.

The report was issued in response to the organization's view that children living with same-sex parents deserve to have two legally recognized parents.

The AAP report indicates that "there is a considerable body of professional literature that suggests children with parents who are homosexual have the same advantages and the same expectations for health, adjustment, and development as children whose parents are heterosexual."

Dr. Ellen Perrin, a behavioral pediatrician at Tufts New England Medical Center, concurred, stating, "There are more similarities than differences in parenting styles and attitudes among gay and non-gay parents."

In addition, the report indicates that the key factor in healthy child development has more to do with the quality of relationships within a family than with the particular family structure. Children are better adjusted when their parents report greater relationship satisfaction, higher levels of love, and lower interparental conflict regardless of their parents' sexual orientation.

According to the AAP report, coparent or second-parent adoption in a same-sex relationship is beneficial in that it provides custody rights for both parents in the event that one parent becomes ill or dies.

In addition, it protects the rights of both parents to have custody and visitation privileges if the couple separates. Finally, same-sex adoption ensures the child's eligibility for health benefits from both parents, provides legal grounds for both parents to provide consent for medical care, and creates the basis for financial security for children by ensuring eligibility to Social Security survivor's benefits and requiring both parents to pay child support.

Between one and nine million children in the United States are estimated to have at least one parent who is lesbian or gay. In addition, lesbians and gay men are increasingly becoming parents on their own or in the context of established same-sex relationships. According to the November 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation survey, almost half of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals (49 percent) who do not have children would like to adopt children of their own at some point.

For this reason, the AAP recommends that pediatricians become familiar with the professional literature regarding gay and lesbian parents and their children and support the right of every child and family to the financial, psychological, and legal security that results from having both parents legally recognized.

In addition, the AAP advises that pediatricians advocate for initiatives that establish permanency, through coparent or second-parent adoption, of children of same-sex partners. According to Dr. Perrin, a change in state laws is necessary to give gay parents the legal right to adopt their partner's children. She adds, "In most states, there's no assurance that the court will agree to adoption."

Nationwide, approximately half the states have allowed second-parent gay adoptions, where one partner already is a legal parent, says Patricia Logue, an attorney with the gay rights advocacy group Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. Many experts indicate that AAP's endorsement is likely to carry weight in courts and legislatures because the group, which represents 55,000 pediatricians, enjoys wide respect.

A November 2001 survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that 46 percent of the general public supports adoption rights for gay and lesbian couples, and more than half of the general public (56 percent) say they believe gay and lesbian couples can be just as good parents as can heterosexual couples.

Along with the AAP, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychological Association also support same-sex adoption.

To view the full report, contact AAP at: www.aap.org/policy/020008t.html