Need for and barriers to accessing public benefits among low-income families with children ☆ Chi-Fang Wu ⁎, Mary Keegan Eamon 1 University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, United States abstract article info Article history: Received 12 April 2009 Received in revised form 29 June 2009 Accepted 1 July 2009 Available online 9 July 2009 Keywords: Public benefits Private assistance Social support Barriers to accessing public benefits Unmet needs Need for public benefits Poverty This study used Survey of Income and Program Participation data to examine whether receipt of public benefits and private sources of assistance among low-income families with children eliminated their perceived need for pubic benefits or additional public benefits, because income was too low to meet basic needs. We also identified barriers to accessing public benefits. Results indicated that only 23% of the sample received public benefits and had no additional need, and the more public benefits families received the more likely they were to perceive unmet need. These findings suggest that a main goal of public benefits programs–to meet the basic needs of low-income families with children–is not being met. Families anticipating assistance from extended family, friends, or organizations were less likely to perceive a need for public benefits than families anticipating little or no assistance. However, families actually receiving assistance from extended family and friends increased the likelihood of perceiving such a need, compared with families who received none, suggesting that private assistance also is insufficient to meet these families' basic needs. Eligibility criteria, lack of knowledge, bureaucratic hassle, and social stigma were common barriers to accessing public benefits. Implications for social work practice and policy are discussed. Published by Elsevier Ltd. 1. Introduction The introduction of Aid to Dependent Children (ADC, later AFDC) as the nation's first welfare program was intended to meet the needs of the country's most disadvantaged children. To this end, ADC/AFDC provided income assistance to single mothers who could prove that they lacked the means necessary to cover their families' basic needs (Lindsey, 2009). Since ADC's creation, the Federal government not only has reformed the original welfare system, most recently creating Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), but has legislated additional means-tested programs with the continued goal of assisting economically disadvantaged households to meet basic needs (United States Government Accountability Office [USGAO], 2005). These programs include Supplemental Security Income (SSI), food assistance programs (e.g., food stamps, school lunches, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children [WIC]), Medicaid, housing assistance, energy assistance, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Although many of these benefits can be received by low-income households without children, the focus of this article is on families with children. In reality, many eligible low-income families with children fail to receive assistance from public benefits programs (Acs, Phillips, & Nelson, 2005; Remler & Glied, 2003; USGAO, 2005). Even among low- income families that do receive some type of public benefits, the amount of the benefits is often insufficient to meet the families' basic needs (Edin & Lein, 1997). In addition to public sources of support, low-income families with children receive economic types of assistance from private sources, such as members of social support networks (e.g., extended family, friends, neighbors) and private, nonprofit organizations (Danziger, Corcoran, Danziger, & Heflin, 2000; Edin & Lein, 1997). Those sources of assistance have become even more important since the 1970s, when the federal government began reducing funding for public benefits and shifting federal funds to the private sector (Brooks, 2004; Marwell, 2004). For economically disadvantaged families with children unable to meet basic needs, these social policy changes have increased reliance on social support networks and private organizations (Harknett, 2006). Given that the goal of public assistance programs is to meet the basic needs of low-income families, combined with the recent trend in relying more on the private sector to provide this assistance, this study investigated the extent to which these programs and the private sector achieve the social policy goal. We analyzed data from a national sample of low-income families with children to examine whether receipt of public benefits and private sources of assistance eliminate their need for public benefits or additional public benefits because income is too low to meet basic needs. We also identify the barriers that prevent families with unmet need from accessing public benefits Children and Youth Services Review 32 (2010) 58–66 ☆ The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript, and Lauren Crome for her excellent editorial assistance. ⁎ Corresponding author. School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana– Champaign, 1010 West Nevada Street, Urbana, IL 61801, United States. Tel.: +1 217 244 5222; fax: +1 217 244 5220. E-mail addresses: cfangwu@illinois.edu (C.-F. Wu), eamon@illinois.edu (M.K. Eamon). 1 Tel.: +1 217 244 5238. 0190-7409/$ – see front matter. Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2009.07.001 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Children and Youth Services Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth