Family Support
Why Are Welfare Rolls Flat, While the Food Stamp Program Grows Rapidly?
Purchases that symbolize the average weekly food stamp benefit of five dollars a day are scanned, in a 2012 file photo. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) The number of people receiving food stamps hit a record high during the recent recession and remains high. But that has not been the case for welfare. In some states, welfare […]
Battle Against Stalking Escalates
State lawmakers took aim at stalkers this session by creating more ways for victims to get protection. But questions remain about enforcement of the orders. (iStockphoto) Last year, Florida State Senator David Simmons found himself dealing with a constituent whose family had been stalked online and in person for three years. He looked into helping […]
Perry Says State Will Maintain Women’s Services
Texas Governor Rick Perry is not backing down in a dispute with the federal government over Planned Parenthood. The Republican governor wrote a blunt letter to President Obama, saying that Texas would pay for women’s health programs on its own if the federal government cut off funding. Perry said the Obama administration is about to […]
Food Banks Drawing Statewide Attention
With the kickoff of the holiday season, state politicians have stepped up their appeals to businesses, hunters and the general public to donate to food banks, with a few governors bringing in donations of their own. New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo launched his ” Help Your Neighbor ” campaign by presenting $1.6 million in […]
Texas Saves Big Money Through Effective Child Support Enforcement
Office of the Attorney General A “Ten Most Wanted” poster is among the innovative approaches that helped Texas collect nearly $3 billion in past due child support payments last year. Judge Joseph Perkins has been enforcing child support orders in Texas for 20 years, but it’s a case from a year ago that he thinks […]
Driving Services Help Senior Mobility Without Spending Public Money
Many elderly people have difficulty driving, but lack access to public transit. There’s a growing movement to solve their problem. Leroy Steinke, who is 87 years old, used to drive his wife and a neighbor to doctors’ appointments and other errands on the North Side of Chicago. Then Steinke’s health declined, and he knew they […]
Infographic: Aging Boomers
Go to related story “Driving services help senior mobility without spending public money”
Food Stamp Rolls Reach Historic Levels
Dorene is a certified teacher in Idaho, but the only job she can find is as a teaching assistant, which pays under $11 an hour. That is considerably less than the $45,000 that the average teacher in Idaho earns annually. She asked that her full name not be used because her family doesn’t know she […]
States Move to Regulate Senior Guardians
As the U.S. population ages and families scatter across the country, the frail elderly increasingly end up relying on the kindness of strangers when they can no longer take care of their personal affairs. If family or friends are not available, state probate courts appoint guardians – also called conservators and fiduciaries in some states […]
Silver Alert Helps Rescue Lost Seniors
Photo courtesy of Texas Department of Transportation A recent Silver Alert on a Texas state highway automated sign. ( Stateline.org removed the license plate number to protect the owner’s privacy.) (Updated 9:30 a.m EST, May 8, 2008) When 83-year-old Helen Long left her North Carolina home without notice last January, her daughter called state police. The […]
Some states reconsider youth sex laws
This story on a hot topic facing states next year is excerpted from Stateline.org ‘s upcoming annual report on state trends and policy, “State of the States 2008.” Lawmakers across the country continue to mete out harsh punishments to sex offenders – from satellite tracking to the death penalty – but a handful of states […]
States Expand Kinship Care Programs
As the rolls of orphaned and neglected children swell, states increasingly are turning for help to grandparents and other family members, who now are caring for some 2.5 million abandoned children. Relatives provide homes for the vast majority of kids whose parents can no longer care for them, saving taxpayers an estimated $6.5 billion a […]