Session: Toward Equitable Child Welfare:How Safety Nets, Child Support Policy, and Guaranteed Income Shape Family Outcomes (Society for Social Work and Research 31st Annual Conference)

The first paper (Hong, Berger, Pac, & Rhodes) constructs a composite measure of state safety net generosity across nine programs and links it to CPS investigation rates using NCANDS data from 2004 to 2019. Two-way fixed-effects models find that a $1,000 increase in safety net support is associated with a 4% decline in investigation rates, with slightly larger effects for Black children under age five. Cash and near-cash benefits seem to drive these reductions, consistent with an income-pathway mechanism.

The second paper (Ko & Cancian) examines cost-recovery child support orders in Wisconsin, which require parents of children in foster care to reimburse the state for placement costs. Using administrative data from 2005 to 2019 and an instrumental variables design exploiting judge- and county-level variation in order rates, the study finds these orders increase foster care duration and substantially reduce reunification probability, with effects concentrated in the first year. These findings challenge the fiscal rationale for such policies and support recent federal guidance to curtail them.

The third paper (Thomas & Nadon) draws on qualitative interviews with 30 frontline workers and supervisors across Illinois agencies to examine how worker discretion shapes the economic experiences of CPS-involved parents. Findings reveal substantial variation in whether workers connect families to supports or enforce financial obligations, driven by agency policy, geography, and individual judgment largely invisible to policymakers and data systems.

The fourth paper (Lery, Benatar, Chambers, Johnston, & Karasek) evaluates California's guaranteed income program for former foster youth aging out at 21, who receive $750 monthly for 18 months alongside means-tested benefit waivers. A randomized controlled trial of 776 participants finds that housing stability gains sustained through program exit, with treated youth significantly less likely to report homelessness or couch-surfing (30% vs. 41%), while improvements in financial stress and wellbeing attenuated, possibly reflecting a new benefits cliff when payments end.

Together, these papers advance a research agenda that treats economic hardship as a condition to be alleviated rather than a marker of risk, and make the case that reducing inequity in child welfare requires confronting the economic policies embedded within it at every stage of a family's encounter with the system.