How Social Welfare Programs Can Help Keep Families Together at the Outskirts of the Boroughs
Looking at the Intersections of Poverty and Foster Care
By Amanda Kari McHugh
It’s no secret that children are expensive. Beyond just basic care such as food and housing, the lack of daycare options for single parents puts low-income small families in a Catch 22 position. Welfare programs such as Medicaid, SNAP benefits (ie Food Stamps) and cash assistance are intended to help these individuals who are at a higher risk of poverty. For those with small children at home, the government programs that offer daycare come with a number of contingencies that aren’t always easy to meet. So it stands to reason that the number one reason children are taken into foster care in the areas that have a higher rate of receiving SNAP benefits is neglect at 63% in 2020. The chart below shows the correlation between children in foster care and households receiving SNAP benefits by community district.
Teenagers in these areas are particularly vulnerable, since according to the CDC, there are none if any primary care medical facilities available, and even fewer free sexual health clinics within an easy commute to these areas. The neighborhoods pointed out on the map below (Jamaica, Williamsbrige and St. George) are the districts that have a particularly high rate of teen pregnancies in these districts that also have high rates of children going into foster care and the need for SNAP benefits.
While the pandemic has limited some of these free services in terms of being by appointment only, the good news is that they are still available. And, as a result of the pandemic, funding for daycare services has been expanded to essential workers. Expansion for social services in the prevention of teen sexual wellness has resulted in the steady decline in teen pregnancies since 1991. In 2020, with these extra programs in place for workers, the number of children in foster care in NYC reached a record low. What the relationship between these datasets is showing us, is that adding in prevention measures to welfare services works, and that America can certainly afford to spend more on it’s highest risk citizens.