ABSTRACT
Virtually any social welfare program affects children to the extent that it has direct or indirect effects on the family. This monograph focuses on federal programs that are directly targeted to families with children. Block grants from the federal government to states for social services and compensatory education, as well as state programs such as general assistance are excluded in order to keep the number of programs manageable.11
This chapter provides a brief discussion of the major programs as they exist today, an analysis of trends in caseloads and expenditures, a comparison of government expenditures on children with expenditures on the elderly, and a discussion of the antipoverty effectiveness of the programs.
