Expensive children in poor families: Out-of-pocket expenditures for the care of disabled and chronically ill children in welfare families

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2000

Publication Title

Journal of Marriage and the Family

Publisher

National Council on Family Relations

Volume

62

Abstract

A significant minority of poor families care for children with disabilities and chronic illnesses. This study is among the first to explore private costs resulting from children's disabilities among low-income families. We find that almost half of the sample of California AFDC families with special-needs children incurred some direct, out-of-pocket expenses in the preceding month, and about 20% incurred total costs exceeding $100. We also estimate lost employment income among low-income mothers caring for children with disabilities. We conclude that both out-of-pocket expenses and foregone earnings represent a substantial burden for many low-income families with special-needs children, and we discuss the policy implications of these findings.

Keywords

Children with disabilities; Medical care; Cost of; Poor families; Public welfare

Disciplines

Family, Life Course, and Society | Health Policy | Medicine and Health Sciences | Social Welfare

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited

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