Description
Book SynopsisFocuses on the staples of American welfare system such as Medicaid, Food Stamps, Head Start, WIC, and public housing. This book maintains that these programs form an effective, if largely invisible and haphazard safety net, and yet they are the very programs most vulnerable to political attack and misunderstanding.
Trade Review"Currie's book ... is engaging and free of both jargon and ideology... [S]he has laid out a reform agenda that could guide modern-day Moynihans in their fight against political pressure to sacrifice the safety net on the altar of national security."--Michael Brus, RealChangeNews.org "In-kind programs have long been neglected in discussions of the welfare system in the United States... At a time when funding and other support for public assistance is shrinking, [Currie] contends, the profile of this safety net must be raised, lest it be dismantled before its importance is realized."--Education Week "[Janet Currie] offers specific reforms for improving ... [anti-poverty] programs ... and 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."--International Social Security Review "Currie has performed a commendable service to readers of multiple disciplines. This volume traces changes to the welfare system as it issues a warning about the potential for undercutting the ability of poor children and families to thrive and develop as the welfare system is transformed. [This book] provides a wonderful primer on public policy for psychologists and others who are interested in the welfare of children and families."--Michael B. Blank and Marlene M. Eisenberg, PsycCRITIQUES "Currie's book will never be mistaken for beach reading. But it is engaging and free of both jargon and ideology."--Michael Brus, Big Issue in the North
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Welfare vs."Making Work Pay" 11 Chapter 2: In Sickness and in Health: The Importance of Public Health Insurance 33 Chapter 3: Feeding the Hungry: Food Stamps, School Nutrition Programs, and WIC 61 Chapter 4: Home Sweet Home? 90 Chapter 5: Who's Minding the Kids? 113 Chapter 6: Defending and Mending the Safety Net 139 Appendix: Table 1 157 Notes 159 Index 197
