Age, Race, and Childrens Living Arrangements: Implications for TANF Reauthorization. Assessing the New Federalism: An Urban Institute Program To Assess Changing Social Policies. Series B.

This brief presents new information on the variations in family structure or living arrangements of poor children, by age and race, and analyzes the implications for current policy decisions. Data from the 1999 NSAF indicate that about half of poor children have two highly involved parents. This is the norm for poor infants but is less likely to be true for older children. Nearly two-thirds of poor infants have two highly involved parents because they are born into married or fragile families. Parents of poor teenagers are more likely than parents of poor young children to be divorced or separated. About half of poor teenagers live with single mothers, and divorced visiting becomes a significant arrangement for maintaining contact with their fathers. More than one-third of poor children are born into fragile families, with visiting the dominant arrangement for father-child contact. At no age are the majority of poor children living with a single mother and uninvolved father. Black children are much less likely than nonblack children to live with both of their natural parents because so few of their parents marry or cohabit. Fragile-visiting families are a uniquely important arrangement by which poor black children have frequent contact with both parents. Parents of older versus younger black children are much less likely to maintain their visiting arrangements. (Contains 15 references.) (SM)