Families as a Legitimate Focus of Public Policy Chapter 7 Students should be familiar with the history of the Family Policy Field from 1970 1990 and be able to identify major events and attitudes towards family policy during this time the eld of family policy was conceived in 1973 US Senate subcommittee hearings chaired by Senator Walter Mondale Testimonies from Bronfenbrenner Mead and Ziegler called for family impact statements to assess the impact of government policies on family well being Impact Seminar was formed at George Washington University in 1976 Subcommittee required more research before developing legislation so a Family 1970 s 80 s are families a legitimate focus of public policy 1980 White House Conference on Families intended to grant families legitimacy in policy but became politically contentious 1981 Gilbert Steiner declares family policy futile and a fad 1984 Theodora Ooms top US Family Scholars all talk of family in policy and research circles became distinctively unfashionable and the pendulum swung back once again to single issue and single constituency Decade of Disregard After the failures of the early 1980 s family policy was essentially ignored until the early 1990 s The resurgence of families as a legitimate area of policy is due primarily to changes in the values and priorities of the american people Students should be able to articulate the di ering views of Je erson and Adams on the role of government and identify how these di erences persist in modern family policy John Adams and Thomas Je erson had heated disagreements about the size and role of government in a democracy This tension between private role of individuals and public role of government continues today ex quote from President Obama highlighting America s rugged individualism and healthy skepticism of government John Adams vs Thomas Je erson What is the appropriate size and role for government in a democracy Je erson states rights small government reduced spending small government people as inherently good Adams Strong centralized government focus on national level increased government scope and spending providing services to individuals and families people as inherently sel sh currently a blend of the two Not Do families need support but Should support be provided by government Science can inform policy but not decide it through empirical assessment Students should be able to explain the 4 ways philanthropy can shape public Philanthropic commitments have had profound in uences on family policies and policy with investments that are small relative to what the government can provide 1 generate new ways of thinking such as what issues might be legitimate topics for government action 2 whether there are better ways to support children and families 3 which kinds of data would be useful for informing policy decisions 4 how barriers to child and family well being can be overcome Students should be familiar with examples of how philanthropy has e ectively impacted family policy particularly the Annie E Casey Kids Count program and the W K Kellog Foundation s American Healing Initiative Annie E Casey Kids Count Initiative collected data on children in 1990 which now includes an annual report card that provides national and state by state data on 16 key indicators of child well being their annual Data Book ranks overall child well being education family and community and health also provides child data at levels of congressional district county school district and city discussions among policymakers advocates and citizens become a trusted source of evidence based information that has enriched W K Kellog Foundations s American Healing Initiative about family and American support for Family Programs antiracist organization that promotes racial equity launched a 75 million ve year America Healing initiative in 2010 funds e orts to in uence media and the communication industry to tell stories of legal racism in this country supports action oriented research on science of implicit and explicit racial bias and dynamics of social inequities also addresses the historic underrepresentation in mainstream philanthropy of marginalized communities de ned by race ethnicity gender or sexual orientation Students should be able to articulate the relationship between American values Americans are 90 satis ed with family life and that satisfaction varies little by income 86 of Republicans report that family values are extremely important compared to 72 of democrats 71 of independents However support for family values did not translate into endorsement of policies that support low income families Democrats have continues support for government assistance over the last 25 years but Republican support has declined signi cantly since 2007 In sum most Americans would agree that parenting is primarily that family s responsibility not the governments Yet recent polling suggests that Americans see a role for government in helping create conditions for families to operate e ectively Students should be familiar with the 4 trends in family policy from 1990 2010 1 patchwork nature of US public policy federal government spends more on the elderly Social Security whereas state education is locally nanced which resulted in uneven expenditures because virtually all of the elderly enjoy healthcare coverage whereas prior to the and local governments spend more on children spending is in uenced by the wealth of the local community A ordable Care Act 11 of children had no insurance and coverage varied by race and ethnicity with 23 of African American and 37 of Hispanic children experiencing periods without health insurance 2 Wide variation in how policies are funded Between 1996 and 2006 spending on Social Security grew over 73 billion and Children s health education and work supports for parents are seldomly Medicare by 150 billion structures to have automatic releases therefore these programs grow in nominal terms discretionary initiatives bene ting children education and work support if large entitlements increase costs will squeeze out resources dedicated to 3 Shift from providing cash support to o ering work support 1996 Welfare reform law where government spending shifted from income support through guaranteed cash assistance to one of helping families support themselves through work Medicaid SCHIP food stamps and childcare subsidies grew steeply municipalities four main work support programs for low income families with