The parameters of interest fall within the areas of fertility, pregnancy loss, birth outcome, infant health, and women's health. Experts from our Reproductive Health Parameters Subcommittee are assisting in the examination of relevant outcomes within these categories, extant data sources, and linkage possibilities with TANF data. In order to advance our notion that women's and children's needs and interests are best served together, we have established ongoing communication with other monitoring groups, such as the Centers for Disease Control, the Center for Law and Social Policy, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, the Child Welfare League of America, the National Center for Children in Poverty, and the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. These efforts, together with ongoing publication of our research findings, address our fourth project objective to foster collaborations and disseminate new information to larger audiences. Finding Common Ground is grounded in the premise that current welfare reform policies perpetuate recent trends in which the health interests of women and children are perceived as separate or even antagonistic.
Empirical evidence suggests that the number who have lost benefits due to sanctions is substantial.
Simultaneously, there has been a sizable decrease in Medicaid and Food Stamps enrollment for both adults and children. There is concern that it is the result of confusion over restricted welfare eligibility and the decoupling of TANF from entitlement programs. Welfare policy changes are thus having an immediate impact. As the number of people sanctioned, time-limited or uninsured increases, states will need to develop alternative safety nets. While policymakers struggle with the impact of these changes we think it important to include our framework, which focuses on the benefits of integrating services to both women and children.