LEADER 04730nam 22007455 450 001 996198835603316 005 20190708092533.0 010 $a1-4008-2699-3 010 $a9786612158520 010 $a1-282-15852-X 010 $a0-691-12268-7 024 7 $a10.1515/9781400826995 035 $a(CKB)2560000000324407 035 $a(EBL)457772 035 $a(OCoLC)440772004 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000183481 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11170617 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000183481 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10195973 035 $a(PQKB)11579187 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC457772 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse43022 035 $a(DE-B1597)453552 035 $a(OCoLC)979578641 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781400826995 035 $z(PPN)195532562 035 $a(PPN)187951241 035 $a(FR-PaCSA)88833438 035 $a(EXLCZ)992560000000324407 100 $a20190708d2008 fg 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe Invisible Safety Net $eProtecting the Nation's Poor Children and Families /$fJanet M. Currie 205 $aCourse Book 210 1$aPrinceton, NJ : $cPrinceton University Press, $d[2008] 210 4$dİ2006 215 $a1 online resource (213 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-691-13852-4 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [159]-195) and index. 327 $tFrontmatter -- $tContents -- $tAcknowledgments -- $tIntroduction -- $tChapter 1. Welfare vs. "Making Work Pay" -- $tChapter 2. In Sickness and in Health: The Importance of Public Health Insurance -- $tChapter 3. Feeding the Hungry: Food Stamps, School Nutrition Programs, and WIC -- $tChapter 4. Home Sweet Home? -- $tChapter 5. Who's Minding the Kids? -- $tChapter 6. Defending and Mending the Safety Net -- $tAppendix -- $tNotes -- $tIndex 330 $aIn one of the most provocative books ever published on America's social welfare system, economist Janet Currie argues that the modern social safety net is under attack. Unlike most books about antipoverty programs, Currie trains her focus not on cash welfare, which accounts for a small and shrinking share of federal expenditures on poor families with children, but on the staples of today's American welfare system: Medicaid, Food Stamps, Head Start, WIC, and public housing. These programs, Currie maintains, form an effective, if largely invisible and haphazard safety net, and yet they are the very programs most vulnerable to political attack and misunderstanding. This book highlights both the importance and the fragility of this safety net, arguing that, while not perfect, it is essential to fighting poverty. Currie demonstrates how America's safety net is threatened by growing budget deficits and by an erroneous public belief that antipoverty programs for children do not work and are riddled with fraud. By unearthing new empirical data, Currie makes the case that social programs for families with children are actually remarkably effective. She takes her argument one step further by offering specific reforms--detailed in each chapter--for improving these programs even more. The book concludes with an overview of an integrated safety net that would fight poverty more effectively and prevent children from slipping through holes in the net. (For example, Currie recommends the implementation of a benefit "debit card" that would provide benefits with less administrative burden on the recipient.) A complement to books such as Barbara Ehrenreich's bestselling Nickel and Dimed, which document the personal struggles of the working poor, The Invisible Safety Net provides a big-picture look at the kind of programs and solutions that would help ease those struggles. Comprehensive and authoritative, it will prompt a major reexamination of the current thinking on improving the lives of needy Americans. 606 $aChild welfare$zUnited States 606 $aPoor children$xServices for$zUnited States 606 $aPoor families$xServices for$zUnited States 606 $aPoor$xGovernment policy$zUnited States 606 $aPublic welfare$zUnited States 607 $aUnited States$xSocial policy$y1993- 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aChild welfare 615 0$aPoor children$xServices for 615 0$aPoor families$xServices for 615 0$aPoor$xGovernment policy 615 0$aPublic welfare 676 $a362.5560973 700 $aCurrie$b Janet M., $0928229 801 0$bDE-B1597 801 1$bDE-B1597 906 $aBOOK 912 $a996198835603316 996 $aThe Invisible Safety Net$92086014 997 $aUNISA