AW

Family Policy Midterm:

Notes: Chapter 1

  • The expression of thoughts and ideas through words, where they are written or oral

  • Family policy is aimed at addressing the problems that families may experience through their lifetime. A series of separate but interrelated issues within society

  • Everything that the government does that impacts families

  • Family. policies are temporarily agreed upon courses of action because society is a dynamic and always changing

  • Promote the well-being of families

  • What is the purpose of family policy?

  • Answer: The goal of family policy is aimed at improving the well-being of families individually and as a unit. The policies are centered on education, healthcare, insurance, property, accessibility, and other related areas.

6 Systems of Social Welfare

  1. Education 

  2. Health

  3. Social Services

  4. Income Maintenance 

  5. Housing

  6. Employment


  • Family policies are either explicit or implicit

  • Explicit Ex (Manifest another word for explicit): they did it for families, and there’s a clear/direct relation to the policy and how they serve families

  • Implicit Ex (Latent, another word for implicit): laws that may impact familie,s but it wasn’t necessarily made for the direct betterment or support of families. Use to help society as a whole and not families directly  

  • Consequences: Direct and Indirect

  • Direct: SNAP

  • Indirect: US Patriot Act, Freedom of Information Act

  • Intended vs. unintended 


Policy Map:

  • policymakers’ values and perceptions and definitions of policy problems 

  • The ranking of values guiding policy choices can change over time

  • Distributes Resources and Redistributes Resources

Distributes Resources: Finding a new stream of money 

Redistribute Resources: The resources that you already have has to be repurposed to other areas. This is much more common  

  • Things that regulate behavior: Sanction, penalties, prohibitions, rewards, incentives

  • Specific examples: drinking age, not showing up to court, dui, child abuse, elder abuse, tax benefits, 

Policies…establishes procedures, provides structure, provides definitions



CHAPTER 2:


  • Social Policy: is the direct action taken by the government to improve the well being of others. Through education, crime prevention, healthcare, overall improvement of human functioning

  • Substance: refers to what the gov is doing to enhance the good of the whole

  • Distributive: allocation of service, funds are assets to a group of people 

  • Regulatory: the rules or guidelines used to accomplish these outcomes


Privatization:

  • The process by which a piece of property or business goes from being government-owned to privately owned

  • Ex: Prison, Health Care, Public Education 


Initiation Phase: An event that catches the public's attention. The tipping point

  • Ex: School Shooting


Implementation Phase:

  • Proposing ideas 

  • Possible intrusion of privacy


Evaluate:

  • Did it work?

  • Assess


Considerations: Cost/Economic Impact, Redistribution of Resources, Curtailing Resources, Treatment vs. Prevention  

  • How brains are triggered by substances 


Fragile Families: 

Many of these families are poor and lack sufficient education; non-married cohabitating families are both 


Typical child health issues: asthma 


Child safety: car seats, school shootings, hot car deaths 


UNICEF tries to protect child trafficking victims 


Children’s Mental Health:

  • The mental health of children has received more attention in recent years

  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder/ADHD





 Table 1 shows a comparison of the mean differences between White and Black Americans. The data focused on the impact of external and internal factors that may increase stress between the two populations. We analyzed approximately 10 variables related to health conditions, distress, subjective health, demographics, socioeconomic status, daily discrimination, and vigilance to gain a better understanding of stress levels in our two groups. Based on the results, African Americans were shown to be more impacted by the variables mentioned, and therefore had more exposure to stress in comparison to white Americans.



Poverty:

  • The supplemental poverty measure

  • Poverty: income basis used by the federal government 

  • Calculated by reviewing how much money families spend 

  • Earned Income Tax Credit: a benefit for working people with low or moderate incomes

  • The overall poverty rate for children has increased in the past decade

  • Minorities have been more impacted 

  • Poverty is related to many factors: personal, social, cultural, economic, instability, violence, and poor housing

  • Children in poverty score lower on standardized tests, but programs like “HeadStart” allow them to reach the same levels as children from higher economic classes 

  • Behavioral Effects: Directive Punitive Methods (hitting, spanking, etc)

  • More susceptible to disease, incidence of asthma, and Exposure to lead 

  • Food security, Food insecurity, Food Desert, 

  • Food Swamp: communities that are overwhelmed by low-quality food sources like fast food restaurants and convenience stores. Food swamps are more likely to be found in lower-income communities 

  • SOCIAL SECURITY  STARTED ON August 14th, 1935. By Franklin D. Roosevelt... you can receive the benefits from 65 or older. But if you take it out sooner then you receive less financial benefit then what you’d have if you took it out later.  Medicare and Medicaid started in 1965

  • ”The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996” was used to prevent the misuse of government welfare support. ”Welfare to work” 5 5-year use limit so that people don’t spend what’s considered to be “too long” on government assistance

  • PRWOA: Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity and Work Opportunity Act of 2019.

  • HUD: Housing and Urban Development 

  •  TANF: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 

  • Increased Minimum Wage 

  1. State the goal of family policy. (1 point)

The goal of family policy is aimed at improving the well-being of families individually and as a unit. The policies are centered on education, healthcare, insurance, property, accessibility, and other related areas.

  1. Define family policy. (1 point)

“Family policy is a collection of government laws, programs, and public directives designed to support, influence, and regulate families and their functions within society.” (2015, Daly)


  1. List the six systems of social welfare (6 points)

The 6 systems of social welfare are education, health, social services, income maintenance, housing, and employment.


  1. Define the term: “explicit objective of family policy” and give one example. (2 points)

Explicit means direct and or clear, so when family policies are explicit, there’s a distinct relation between the policy and how it works to serve families. An example of a direct policy is SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), which provides monthly food benefits to low-income households.


  1. Define the term: “implicit objective of family policy” and give one example. (2 points)

Implicit family policies, on the other hand, are less direct and can be very broad. These laws may or may not impact families because they were not intended to directly help households. An example of an indirect policy is the U.S. Patriot Act, which expanded the surveillance of law enforcement after the events of 9/11.


  1. Define the term: “direct consequence of family policy” and give one example. (2 points)

A direct consequence of family policy is anything that works alongside the changes within the household, whether that be financial, educational, health-wise, etc. The change causes some sort of disruption to the normal household routine, and the policy is there to support that adjustment. For example, paid parental leave. 


  1. Define the term: “indirect consequence of family policy” and give one example. (2 points)

Indirect consequence of family policy helps with unexpected problems that arise after the influence of a policy. For example, a policy designed to support working mothers isn't able to lend the same assistance to working fathers as well.


  1. Define the term: “resources as they relate to family policy” and give an example of a resource. (2 points)

When I think of resources regarding family policies, I think of any sort of guiding regulations made to ensure the safety and betterment of households. However, my mind automatically thinks of food, house, and financial assistance that helps families adjust to the uncertain circumstances of life. 


  1. Write a paragraph that explains how resources are distributed in family policy. (2 points)

Distribution of funds within family policy is just another way of saying that policy makers are finding new streams of money to support their act. It’s a complex process of allocating funds where they’re needed. Certain areas that may need resource distribution could be in government programs, community services, employment benefits, and private family arrangements. 


  1. Write a paragraph that explains how resources are redistributed in family policy. (2 points)

Resources have the potential to be redistributed in other words repurposed in other areas of the policy. It promotes equity and supports families through unexpected situations. The redistribution process may have the ability to support low-income individuals through benefits, taxes, and public services. Making living more bearable for underprivileged families. 


  1. Respond to the question, “are family policies most often distributed or redistributed?” and explain the reasoning behind your answer. (2 points)

Family policies are most often redistributed based on which family is more in need of support compared to another. Redistribution works around challenges brought to families due to status, income level and or other non-ideal family characteristics.


  1. Define the terms: “sanctions, prohibitions and punishments” and give one example of how these “negative” responses help carry out the goals of family policy. (5 points)

Sanctions are penalties enforced after not following rules or proper regulation. Prohibition is a direct ban on specific actions. Typically, in family law, prohibitions can impact parent and child rights. Lastly, punishments are consequences that are often more severe than a sanction that are court-ordered when a person disobeys a legal order. Example child support enforcement, one parent is given the responsibility of providing child support monthly, and if they don’t meet this requirement, then legal action can be taken. 


  1. Define the terms: “rewards and incentives” and give one example of how these “positive” responses help carry out the goals of family policy. (4 points)

Rewards can come in form of financial payments or public recognition that is offered by the organization as a way to incentivize positive outcomes. These institutions try to encourage good behavior to achieve a certain standard. An incentive is a goal-oriented tool, and the reward is the achievement that you get as a result of reaching your goal. 


  1. State the full name of a family policy you may be interested in learning more about this semester. (2 points) 

I want to learn more about the Child Support policy in Maryland, specifically learning more about the “income shares” model that it goes by in that state. I think I want to switch my project topic to that instead of what I chose originally at the beginning of the semester.



References: Google