The impact of refundable state earned income tax credits on foster care entry rate trends.

Autor: Coffey AM; Department of Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America; Injury Prevention Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America. Electronic address: coffeyam@email.unc.edu., Austin A; Injury Prevention Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America; Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America., Moulton J; Department of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America., Engel SM; Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America., Martin SL; Department of Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America., Shanahan ME; Department of Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America; Injury Prevention Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Child abuse & neglect [Child Abuse Negl] 2024 Dec; Vol. 158, pp. 107130. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Nov 05.
DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107130
Abstrakt: Background: Children living in poverty are more likely to enter foster care compared to children not living in poverty. Refundable state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) increase household income and have been shown to reduce the risk of child maltreatment using caregiver-reported and administrative records of child protective services investigations; however, there is limited literature on the impact of refundable state EITCs on foster care entry.
Objective: To evaluate the impact of refundable state EITCs on foster care entry rates at the state-level.
Participants and Setting: Foster care entries among children less than 18 years old in the United States.
Methods: Difference-in-difference analyses using the Callaway and Sant'Anna approach were conducted. Data on EITC refundability was extracted from legislative records and foster care entries were obtained from Kids Count for 2000-2019. State-level policies, including Medicaid expansion, paid family leave, minimum wage, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, were included in the analysis to minimize bias from confounding.
Results: On average, 0.5 fewer children entered foster care (95 % CI: -1.0, -0.1) per 1000 children per year among states that implemented a refundable EITC than there would have been had those states not implemented a refundable EITC. The reduction in foster care entries was not statistically significant until six years after families could first benefit from implementation of a state refundable EITC.
Conclusion: A refundable state EITC reduces the rate of foster care entries. This reduction is statistically significant starting six years after the tax credit is implemented in a state.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None reported.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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