Poster #123 - How the U.S. Social Safety Net Shapes Child and Family Well-Being: An Integrative Review and Framework

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

Poverty is a persistent structural and social challenge in the U.S., with 13% of children living below the official poverty line in 2024 (Shrider & Bijou, 2025), and Black, Latinae, and Native American communities are disproportionately burdened due to long-standing racist policies that shape where families live and where children attend school (e.g., Owens & Candipan, 2019). The consequences of childhood poverty can exert long-lasting effects on social-emotional, cognitive, academic, and physical development (e.g., Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997; Chaudry & Wimer, 2016; G. W. Yoshikawa et al., 2012). These effects are driven by structural barriers (e.g., unequal access to quality housing and health care) and constraints on everyday caregiving environments (e.g., inadequate nutrition and cognitive stimulation) (Desmond, 2023; G. W. Evans, 2004; Murnane, 2007; Coley et al., 2025). 

The U.S. social safety net consists of a collection of federally funded, means-tested programs designed to provide families with material resources and access to services to meet immediate needs. Yet it remains unclear how, under what conditions, and for whom the material and financial benefits of social safety net programs translate into improvements in child and family outcomes. Evidence syntheses have shed light on some sources of heterogeneity, but either focus on a single program or a narrow set of outcomes, leaving a gap in understanding how multiple programs pattern across child development, caregiver well-being, and family processes. 

To address this gap, we conduct a pre-registered systematic review of reviews on the impacts of nine major federal social safety net programs (i.e., SNAP, WIC, TANF, EITC, Premium tax credit, CTC, Medicaid/CHIP, LIHEAP, Housing assistance), distinguishing between first-order (i.e., economic protection and access to services) and second-order outcomes (i.e., child, caregiver, and family processes). This study focuses on peer-reviewed scoping reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses published between 2006 and 2026. Studies are eligible if they focus on U.S. populations, include explicit inclusion criteria, and report impacts on at least one first-order (i.e., target/proximal) or second-order (i.e., distal) outcome for at least one of the nine safety net programs considered in this study. Abstract screening is underway, and data extraction is expected to be completed by June 2026. We will use a narrative synthesis to compare findings across programs and child, caregiver, and family outcomes to identify patterns of consistency and sources of heterogeneity of effects (e.g., predictability, timing and duration, administrative burden, family characteristics).

Our findings will be used to refine a developmentally informed, policy-relevant framework that clarifies how large-scale economic support programs, individually and collectively, shape child and caregiver well-being and family processes. Preliminary findings highlight gaps in the evidence across program and outcome domains.

Authors

• Noelle Suntheimer, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Katie Pullom, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author

• Lindsay Dusard, University of Pennsylvania
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Ka I Ip
  Non-Presenting Co-Author