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This symposium brings together four studies that examine how state-level family policies influence child and family well-being, using variation in state policy contexts as a lens to understand how policies operate in families’ lives. The papers investigate the effects of state family policies on economic security, workforce participation, and child well-being, including refundable tax credits, health insurance, income support policies, and public investments in early childhood education. By spanning multiple policy domains, the symposium reflects the reality that families engage with multiple safety net programs simultaneously and at different points across the life course.
The papers use diverse data sources, including national survey data, administrative records, and longitudinal child development datasets, and apply rigorous quasi-experimental and panel analytic methods to investigate how investments in families shape child and family well-being across key stages of family life. Together, these studies address two central questions relevant to social work research and policy:
- How public investments in children impact families’ economic well-being?
- How do multiple safety net programs interact to shape child and family outcomes?
The first paper examines the effects of state public pre-K funding on mothers’ labor supply and finds that increased funding modestly increases maternal employment. The second paper studies the newly implemented state Child Tax Credits using Household Pulse Survey data and finds that refundable state CTCs reduce food hardship among households with children. The third paper analyzes whether Medicaid expansions and EITC generosity interact to influence children’s academic achievement, using ECLS-K data and state-level policy changes. The fourth paper examines economic hardship around childbirth using birth records and state administrative data. It finds that means-tested programs—especially SNAP and tax credits—substantially mitigate poverty during pregnancy and the postpartum period, with significant differences by parents’ marital statuses and racial and ethnic identities.
The papers collectively highlight the roles of state-level policies in shaping family economic security and child well-being. They also discuss potential heterogeneity in policy impacts across families defined by socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, household structure, and children's developmental stages. By integrating evidence across multiple policy domains, this symposium offers insights into how coordinated public investments can strengthen family well-being and implications for state and local policymaking.