Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation
	HUMAN SERVICES POLICY

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Special Populations:

More Reports

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Topics

• Domestic Violence
• Hard-to-Serve Populations
• Immigrants
• Mental Health Issues
• Race/Ethnicity Data
• Substance Abuse

Domestic Violence

Publications

• Coordinated Community Responses to Domestic Violence in Six Communities:  Beyond the Justice System, Executive Summary, October 1996.  The full report (385k) is also available. 
  The past two decades have seen dramatic changes in the response to domestic violence in communities throughout the United States.  In many communities, the justice systems have experienced a number of important changes in their laws and agency practices related to domestic violence.  As a result, many justice systems now respond to domestic violence in ways that are more likely than in the past to hold batterers accountable and to support battered women.  At the same time, social services for battered women have become more widely available with substantial growth in domestic violence hotlines and shelters.

  This study by Sandra Clark, Martha Burt, Margaret Schulte, and Karen Maguire of the Urban Institute examines coordinated responses to domestic violence in six communities:  Baltimore, Maryland;  Kansas City, Missouri;  Carlton and Northern St. Louis Counties rural counties in Minnesota;  San Diego, California;  and San Francisco, California.  Each of these communities has expanded their response to include a broad array of agencies beyond the justice system.  Many of these efforts are in their early stages and do not provide definitive answers about the best approach to coordination or the likely outcomes.  However, the experiences of these communities raise a number of important issues for other communities to consider as they seek new and better ways to address this complicated problem.  You may download the full report in WordPerfect format as a compressed, self­extracting file (domviol.exe, 145Kb).

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Hard-to-Serve Populations

Publications

• See also Welfare­to­Work publications, particularly those related to Mathematica Policy Research’s evaluation of the Department of Labor’s national Welfare­to­Work program.
• Declining Immigrant Applications for Medi-Cal and Welfare Benefits in Los Angeles County, July 1998.
  This report analyzes of Los Angeles County administrative data regarding the relative program participation rates of citizens and noncitizens in AFDC/TANF, SSI, General Assistance, Medicaid, and food stamps.  Prepared by Zimmerman and Fix.
• Number and Cost of Immigrants on Medicaid:  Executive Summary, December 1997.
  By Leighton Ku and Bethany Kessler of The Urban Institute.
• Comparisons of the Major Immigration and Welfare Reform Proposals.
  Compares the immigrant provisions of prior law and PRWORA.
• Implementing Welfare Reform Requirements for Teenage Parents:  Lessons from Experience in Four States, October 1997
  This report summarizes lessons based on an examination of the operational experiences in four states that implemented school attendance and living arrangements requirements using federal waivers under the prior AFDC program.  The four states are Arizona, California, Massachusetts, and Virginia.  The report draws lessons in three areas:  (1) identifying teenage parents, (2) implementing school attendance requirements, and (3) implementing living arrangement requirements.  Robert Wood and John Burghardt of Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., prepared the report for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, October 31, 1997.
• Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Outcomes for Parents and Welfare Recipients:  Outcomes, Benefits, and Costs.  January 1997
  This report by Dean Gerstein, Robert Johnson and Cindy Larison of the National Opinion Research Center and Hendrick Harwood and Douglas Fountain of the Lewin Group examines substance abuse treatment outcomes for parents and welfare recipients.  The study re­analyzes data originally collected by the State of California regarding individuals who received drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services in California during 1991-92.  It finds that welfare recipients have similar drug and alcohol treatment outcomes to those of the general population of persons receiving substance abuse treatment. 
• Sources of Support for Young Latina Mothers, Executive Summary, August 1995.
  This report explores the support strategies used by young Latina mothers in the United States.  It focuses on Latina mothers because they have high rates of poverty and their numbers are growing rapidly.  There has been limited research on the circumstances of young Latina mothers and even less on Latina subgroups.  The report also includes information on young White and Black mothers.  The authors used data from the 1990 Census to 1) look at the young mother’s living arrangements to determine whether she is living with others who can potentially provide support to her and her children, and 2) consider how young mothers support themselves and their children, both through employment and public assistance.  This information is provided for young mothers ages 15-19 and 20-24 and by ethnicity and nativity.  The report was produced by Joan Kahn and Rosalind Berkowitz of the Urban Institute under contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.  The WordPerfect® 5.1 files comprising the full text of this report are available as latina.zip, a compressed (.zip) file.
• Substance Abuse and Substance­Related Impairment Among Participants in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program (AFDC), December 1994.  Executive Summary
  This report, based on the 1991 and 1992 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse, provides data on substance use and substance­related impairment among AFDC participants.  The study was conducted as background to welfare reform efforts, to consider how many AFDC recipients might be expected to need alcohol or drug abuse treatment, and for how many would intense treatment needs likely preclude concurrent participation in education, training, or employment activities. 

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Immigrants

Publications

• Sources of Support for Young Latina Mothers, Executive Summary, August 1995.
  This report explores the support strategies used by young Latina mothers in the United States.  It focuses on Latina mothers because they have high rates of poverty and their numbers are growing rapidly.  There has been limited research on the circumstances of young Latina mothers and even less on Latina subgroups.  The report also includes information on young White and Black mothers.  The authors used data from the 1990 Census to 1) look at the young mother’s living arrangements to determine whether she is living with others who can potentially provide support to her and her children, and 2) consider how young mothers support themselves and their children, both through employment and public assistance.  This information is provided for young mothers ages 15-19 and 20-24 and by ethnicity and nativity.  The report was produced by Joan Kahn and Rosalind Berkowitz of the Urban Institute under contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.  The WordPerfect® 5.1 files comprising the full text of this report are available as latina.zip, a compressed (.zip) file.
• Services for Migrant Children in the Health, Social Services and Educational Systems, Executive Summary, March 1993.
  In addition to the many burdens imposed on all children of poverty, migrant children face mobility, language, and cultural barriers.  Thus, the children of migrant farmworkers face increased challenges in obtaining educational, health, and social services.  This report describes the migrant population examined, the service needs of migrant children, services integration and service delivery issues, the conceptual framework for a cross­site synthesis, findings concerning evaluation issues, policy issues, recommendations, and implications for further research.  As our population becomes more multicultural and multiethnic, programs that have been successful in serving migrant farmworkers may be instructive to other service providers and program planners who must learn how to overcome language and cultural barriers.  Appendices include:  a description of the study methodology, the site visit discussion guide, a summary of federal programs serving migrant families, a discussion of data sources and limitations, summaries of each of the sites visited, and a bibliography.  The files comprising the full text of this report are available as 1_migran.exe, a self-extracting, compressed file.

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Mental Health Issues

Publications

• Risk and Reality:  Teaching Preschool Children Affected by Substance Abuse, 1994
  In recent years teachers have reported an increasing number of children who display troubling behaviors and learning problems that they suspect may be related to the effects of substance abuse — either prenatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs or the consequences of living in families and communities where substance abuse is common.  This package of materials has been developed to help preschool teachers and other service professionals who work with young children understand what they can do to help these children at risk.  Materials include:  a 30-minute video that demonstrates specific classroom interventions;  a teachers guide that explains in detail the techniques shown in the video;  and a literature review that presents current research findings about the effects on children of alcohol and other drugs and associated problems like poor care giving and violence.

  This project is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services.  A parallel version of this package aimed at elementary schools has been developed and is being provided to most elementary schools directly by the Department of Education.

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Race/Ethnicity Data

Publications

• Assessment of Major Federal Data Sets for Analyses of Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander Subgroups and Native Americans
  These two reports assess the capability of several federal surveys to provide data on major subgroups of Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islanders (e.g. Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Chinese, and Filipinos) and on American Indian or Alaska Natives (AIANs). The Task 2 Report: Inventory of Selected Existing Federal Databases, May 2000, contains an inventory of major databases used by HHS analysts with information about how the race/ethnicity response categories were designed, interviewing policies, sample sizes, and publication policies. The Task 3 Report: Extending the Utility of Federal Databases, May 2000, assesses the ability of the databases to provide data of adequate precision on selected Hispanic and API subgroups and AIANs. The report also suggests and evaluates methods to enhance the ability of surveys to provide reasonably reliable statistics about these populations.  Prepared by Westat.

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Substance Abuse

Publications

• Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Outcomes for Parents and Welfare Recipients:  Outcomes, Benefits, and Costs, January 1997.
  This report by Dean R. Gerstein, Robert A. Johnson and Cindy L. Larison of the National Opinion Research Center and Hendrick J. Harwood and Douglas Fountain of the Lewin Group examines substance abuse treatment outcomes for parents and welfare recipients.  The study re-analyzes data originally collected by the State of California regarding individuals who received drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services in California during 1991-92.  It finds that welfare recipients have similar drug and alcohol treatment outcomes to those of the general population of persons receiving substance abuse treatment.  The WordPerfect® files comprising the report may be downloaded as a self-extracting, compressed file (Caldata.exe, 205K).
• Patterns of Substance Use and Program Participation, Executive Summary, December 1994.
  This report provides data on substance use among participants in three Federal programs — Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Medicaid, and food stamps.  Based on the 1991 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, the study finds that rates of self­reported non­medical drug use are somewhat higher among program participants than in the general population.
• Substance Abuse Among Women and Parents, Executive Summary, July 1994.
  This report provides data on substance abuse by women of childbearing age and by parents and examines the number of children potentially at risk because of parental drug abuse.  The study is based primarily on data from the 1991 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) but also includes 1991 data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN).  This study reflects the first attempt to address this topic using data from some of these sources, notably the NHSDA. 
• Substance Abuse and Substance­Related Impairment Among Participants in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program (AFDC), Executive Summary, December 1994.
  This report, based on the 1991 and 1992 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse, provides data on substance use and substance­related impairment among AFDC participants.  The study was conducted as background to welfare reform efforts, to consider how many AFDC recipients might be expected to need alcohol or drug abuse treatment, and for how many would intense treatment needs likely preclude concurrent participation in education, training, or employment activities.

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Related Links

• Administration on Aging and the Aging Network, look for pages on elder abuse
• Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau web site
• Family and Intimate Violence Prevention Program, a project of the Centers for Disease Control
• Partnerships Against Violence
• US Immigration and Naturalization Service Home Page