By Allie Kelly
Experts in Illinois are planning to test whether cash can help reduce cases of child maltreatment.
Beginning this fall, the statewide Empower Parenting with Resources (EmPwR) guaranteed basic income pilot will give 400 families involved in the child welfare system monthly cash payments for a year, no strings attached. All participants will be selected from households that are enrolled in children and family services, meaning the state has determined they need support or monitoring after a child abuse or neglect investigation.
Researchers hope that boosting parents’ income through GBI will help prevent maltreatment. Studies and basic income pilots have previously found that cash payments can mitigate neglect by strengthening parents’ access to basic necessities. Researchers have also told BI that reducing family financial stress can lead to lower rates of physical abuse and domestic violence.
“Many of the families that we would see have deeper involvement in foster care and child welfare are dealing with gaps and the holes in the safety net,” said Mike Shaver, the CEO of Brightpoint, a Chicago-based organization that provides child welfare and family support programs.
The GBI pilot is a partnership between the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and Brightpoint. Funding will come from the Department of Children and Family Services and various foundations.
The 400 families receiving cash payments from EmPwR will be compared to a control group of 400 additional families who meet the criteria for the program but will not receive payments. All 800 families will continue receiving other child welfare services as usual.
Shaver said there is no income requirement for participants, and the monthly cash amount families receive will vary based on the number of children they have and the local cost of living. Researchers expect to enroll participants and control group members on a rolling basis.
EmPwR joins over 100 guaranteed basic income pilots across the country — programs that typically offer participants between $100 and $2,000 a month for a set period of time as an approach to poverty reduction. Previous guaranteed basic income participants have told BI they used the money to afford rent, groceries, childcare, and prescriptions.
Giving parents money is an increasingly popular policy idea. Several of America’s guaranteed basic income programs are already giving cash to single parents, low-income pregnant people, and foster youth. Other federal safety net programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) also aim to help parents financially. Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, both Democrats and Republicans have also shown support for an expanded child tax credit.
However, it’s worth noting that not all cases of child abuse or maltreatment are caused by poverty-related neglect.
“The idea here is that it’s not to say that all neglect is caused by poverty or is the only answer,” said Will Schneider, associate professor of social work at the University of Illinois and a principal investigator for the EmPwR pilot. “But that cash assistance is a missing piece of the puzzle.”
Illinois hopes guaranteed basic income will reduce cases of poverty-related neglect
Illinois’ GBI program comes as nearly four million families are referred to the child welfare system every year. About 38% of all children — and 53% of Black children — will experience a Child Protective Services investigation by the time they turn 18.
These child welfare referrals can stem from suspected physical harm, sexual abuse, or situations where a child isn’t given basic necessities. And, this system involvement can lead to parents losing custody and children being put in short or long-term foster care.
However, over 70% of all maltreatment reports in the US are neglect cases, typically because a child isn’t receiving adequate childcare, meals, or hygiene, according to Schneider. Because of this, low-income families — many of whom are facing housing and food insecurity — are at least three times more likely to be reported for neglect than families who are not struggling financially.
While there are helpful tools, such as the caregiving classes and violence prevention services often offered by the welfare system, these interventions sometimes don’t address the root cause of neglect cases, Schneider said. Some low-income parents aren’t receiving the resources or government assistance they need to care for themselves and their children. Without financial support, parents can fall back into the system.
“Parents know what’s best for their kids and want to do what’s best for their kids,” Schneider said. “And, given access to support, they’ll make those choices.”
Throughout the EmPwR pilot, researchers at the University of Illinois plan to track quantitative data like participants’ spending, along with conducting surveys and interviews with participants about their experiences. They will also track the number of times families are referred back into the welfare system while receiving payments. The pilot is also statewide, so researchers will compare the safety and financial outcomes of families living in rural areas with those living in cities. Family service programs are often more difficult to access in rural areas, Schneider said.
Research shows financial support can boost family safety
There is already evidence that financial support and no-strings-attached cash can reduce cases of neglect and household violence.
BI previously reported on a study published in January by doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s PolicyLab, which found that family finances are a key predictor of child welfare involvement. For instance, child hospitalizations for severe head trauma spiked during the 2008 financial crisis.
The study found that housing assistance programs, affordable childcare, guaranteed basic income, and tax credits limit maltreatment and reduce the number of children placed in foster care.
In July, Los Angeles released results of a GBI pilot that gave 3,200 households $1,000 monthly for a year, beginning in January 2022. Within the first six months of the program, participants — some of which were parents and all of whom were living near the poverty line — left situations of intimate partner violence more frequently than the pilot’s control group.
To be sure, guaranteed basic income pilots are temporary. It is not yet clear if cash payments will have a lasting effect on families’ financial security and child welfare involvement in the months or years after EmPwR ends. Some politicians and economists also say the millions of dollars it costs to run a GBI program isn’t sustainable for taxpayers or private funders.
Still, Schneider said that giving basic income to families in the child welfare system could help parents better afford food, housing, and healthcare. He said the program also aims to provide insights for future policies that prevent maltreatment and keep families together.
