Children & Families

Publications on Children

George Galster explains how children are harmed by growing up in predominantly poor neighborhoods. He also recommends ways to improve federal and state housing programs to avoid high concentrations of poverty. George Galster is an Urban Institute Affiliated Scholar and the Clarence B. Hilberry Professor of Urban Affairs at Wayne State University.

This brief examines the characteristics of the children who were eligible for Medicaid/CHIP in 2007. The results show that while participation rates were high in both Medicaid and CHIP, some 5 million remained uninsured despite being eligible for coverage. Participation rates, which were found to vary across areas, have likely increased given recent declines in the number of uninsured children. The brief also shows that while interest in public coverage is high among low-income parents, many do not know not know that their child is eligible for Medicaid/CHIP, do not know how to apply, and/or find the application process difficult.

This report uses the 2005 Kaiser Low-Income Coverage and Access Survey to examine low-income parents' perceptions of access and quality of care for the uninsured. The findings indicate that most low-income parents perceive that the uninsured do not have access to affordable medical and dental care and that the quality of care they receive is lower than for the insured. Low-income parents also have generally positive perceptions of Medicaid, indicating that efforts to increase eligibility and enrollment in Medicaid such as those included in current health care reform proposals would reduce uninsurance among this population.

A central goal of U.S. social welfare policy is to ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential as productive adults. Yet it is increasingly clear that where children live plays a central role in determining their life chances. This paper provides an overview of The Urban Institute's Program on Neighborhoods and Youth Development, which is dedicated to understanding the relationships between neighborhood-level factors and the well-being and development of children and youth and identifying and evaluating place-based, community-wide strategies to help children grow up to reach their full potential as adults.

This report synthesizes findings from case studies conducted in 2001 and 2002 in ten states selected for the Congressionally Mandated Evaluation of SCHIP: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Texas (Hill et al. 2002). Discussion addresses such issues as program design, outreach and enrollment strategies, benefits, service delivery systems, cost sharing, crowd out prevention, parental coverage, financing, and coordination of SCHIP and Medicaid. Overarching conclusions identify lessons learned from effective implementation.