The influence of family-based social assistance programs and parenting on child development: A conceptual framework for research with U.S. families in poverty

Nearly three decades since the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, federal cash assistance to families in poverty in the United States has entered political discourse once more with the Biden Administration's introduction of the American Families Plan. At the heart of this discussion are theories of change that derive from the family and developmental sciences. As a result, scientists in these fields have a duty to understand the history of the last reform and the consequences it has since had for children in poverty. In this paper, I review the history of perspectives toward government social assistance programs, as well as extant research demonstrating the mechanisms through which maternal employment and federal cash assistance impact child wellbeing. Lastly, I propose a conceptual framework for understanding the influence of family-based social assistance programs and parenting on child wellbeing to guide future research.