In 1996, President Clinton enacted welfare reform which has decreased funding for social services and nutrition programs, including the Food Stamp Program and other nutrition programs. Understanding how welfare reform affects children's health is fundamental, as nutrition and health influence children's ability to learn and their quality of life. This study will develop a low cost monitoring tool that can be used to examine the effects of welfare reform on children's health, nutrition, and food security indicators. Data analyses have been conducted using a sample of 201 Puerto Rican caretakers living in inner-city Hartford. Results indicate that food insecurity is affected by the monthly duration of food stamp allotment, and whether the family can no longer adequate housing or the caretaker is forced to seek work without daycare because of welfare reform. These indicators are easy to measure and will be included in the monitoring instrument. Interviews with key informants representing hospitals or clinics, public health and social services agencies have been conducted to: a) assess Hartford's capacity for implementing this monitoring system, b) identify sentinel sites for data collection, and c) determine who may translate the results into concrete policy changes. Efforts such as these are necessary to fully understand the impact of social and public health policy changes on the well being of Latino children nationwide.
Learning Objectives: After the session, participants will understand the importance and relevance of using the monitoring system to examine the effects of welfare reform on children's health
Keywords: Welfare Reform, Children
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.