Chapin Hall in the News
Star Beacon/originally in LA Times (September 26, 2023)
Hefty cigarette taxes cut smoking big-time. But there’s a downside for children
“It seemed like a brilliant solution — tax the sinners who are smoking to help newborns and their parents. It was great,” said Deborah Daro, a senior research fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and a First 5 Los Angeles consultant. “But then people stopped smoking, which from a public health perspective is great, but from a funding perspective for First 5 — they don’t have another funding stream.”
Fast Company (September 14, 2023)
She went to the hospital for a few days. The state kept her kids for 4 years
It’s a question that more people should be asking, advocates and researchers say. “Even modest economic supports can stabilize families and alleviate the need for more intensive intervention” such as foster care, write Dana Weiner, Clare Anderson, and Krista Thomas, senior policy fellows at Chapin Hall, an independent policy research center at the University of Chicago.
Florida Weekly (September 7, 2023)
Selfless Love to host national think tank
Selfless Love Foundation has engaged researchers from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago to produce a report on how to implement the programs and practices discussed at the National Think Tank. The nearly 100 attendees representing states from New York to Georgia and Texas to Hawaii will then be able to implement those practices to impact the lives of youth across the nation. Info: selflesslovefoundation.org.
The Philadelphia Citizen (August 31, 2023)
Compare those figures to those to the national outcomes of children in foster care as tallied by the U.S. Department of Education and nonprofit University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall research center: 55 percent earn a high school degree; 74 percent avoid the juvenile justice system; and become teen parents. (More than 30 percent of Friends of the Children kids have been in foster care.)
Seven Days – Vermont’s Independent Voice (August 23, 2023)
At-Risk Young People Get a Monthly Stipend as a Hedge Against Homelessness
In New York City, researchers plan to check in for at least six months after the payouts end, a departure from a lot of existing research, which often concludes with the program, according to Anne Farrell, senior research fellow at Chapin Hall.
She said cash payouts are not a “silver bullet for everyone.” But, Farrell said, “we do hope and expect … that the cash and the supports help people to not just procure housing but also to stabilize in other ways that will be maintained across time.”
SooLeader (August 18, 2023)
New program aims to offer greater protection for at-risk children
Providing childcare subsidies decreases child neglect by 31 per cent, according to a study by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, while referring homeless families to permanent housing decreases foster care placement by 50 per cent and connecting families to food assistance decreases child maltreatment by 11 per cent, the release said.
NC Newsline (August 17, 2023)
The looming childcare “crisis,” public benefits and their impact on the foster care system
Clare Anderson, senior policy fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, presented research showing that states like North Carolina that strip people’s TANF benefits for not meeting work requirements experience a 23% increase in substantial child neglect reports and a nearly 13% increase in foster care entries.
“It’s important to understand that the first statutory goal of TANF is to support needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes or with relatives,” Anderson said. “So, decision-making in TANF seems to have an effect on what happens in child welfare.”
Stateline (August 17, 2023)
Couch, car or curb: Defining which young person is ‘homeless’ affects aid state by state
“If you’re running a program and you’re funded by HUD, based on their definition of homelessness, your hands are tied in terms of who you can serve,” said Amy Dworsky, a senior research fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. “You can serve a youth that’s sleeping on the street, but you can’t serve a youth who’s sleeping on someone’s couch.”
Oklahoma Watch (August 5, 2023)
Homeless youth walk hidden path in rural Oklahoma
Gonser said she rarely encounters homeless youth because many are so-called couch homeless and doubled up with another family. That form of homelessness is twice as common for youth in rural communities, according to a University of Chicago study. (Voices of Youth Count, Chapin Hall)
The Imprint (July 7, 2023)
Can Giving Cash to Youth Prevent Homelessness? A New Program Developed in Washington Looks Promising
More than 4 million teens and young adults face homelessness each year, according to researchers from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. Countless more are just one missed paycheck or emergency expense away from similar struggles. Early intervention is key, experts say, because the longer a person is homeless, the harder it is for them to escape it.
The Imprint (July 5, 2023)
California Budget Boosts Higher Education and Housing for Foster Youth
Roughly half of all foster youth in California experience at least one bout of homelessness between the ages of 18 and 21, and a third face multiple episodes of homelessness, according to researchers at Chapin Hall, based at the University of Chicago, who have tracked this demographic group for years.
WGN Radio 720 (June 25, 2023)
City Club of Chicago: Youth Homelessness – Federal and Local Perspectives
Youth Homelessness: Federal and Local Perspectives
Jeff Olivet- U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, Carolyn K. Ross- All Chicago, Bryan Samuels- Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
The pandemic, affordable housing shortages, and inflation have exacerbated homelessness in major cities throughout the U.S., and Chicago is no exception. In this discussion, federal and local experts will look specifically at youth homelessness. Experts will address the question of how advocates and agencies can work with the city to get upstream of housing instability for teens and young adults. The discussion will include the potential impact that the federal government’s All INside and other initiatives can have on Chicago.
WGN (June 2, 2023)
A few Chicago pro sports teams continue an alliance in 2023
As part of the effort, the alliance and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation will give $1.5 million in grants to five organizations in Chicago that are making efforts to address gun violence.
For 2023, these include: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
Teen Vogue (May 16, 2023)
LGBTQ Students Face Barriers to Getting Student Loans Without Parents’ Participation
According to data from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, LGBTQ+ youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than other youth.
Youth Today (May 9, 2023)
As fentanyl use rises among teens, Arizona requires naloxone in foster homes
Bryan Samuels, executive director of Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, a child welfare policy research institute, said without evidence, the Arizona policy might make sense if institutions for all groups of vulnerable populations were requiring naloxone on site, like schools and libraries. But it gets dicey if that isn’t the case, he said.
“It really becomes a question of how specific is the policy to kids in foster care versus a generalized policy around multiple vulnerable populations that are driving that decision,” Samuels said.
The Imprint (May 9, 2023)
Foster Care’s Missing Policies For Sexual and Reproductive Health
Given their numbers and high rates of poor health outcomes, Amy Dworsky, a leading scholar of pregnancy and parenting in foster care with Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, reacted to The Imprint’s investigation with alarm.
“These findings highlight all the barriers young people in care face to accessing reproductive health care that their peers don’t,” she said. “The situation looks ripe for a lawsuit since, in some states, young people in foster care appear not to have the same rights to reproductive healthcare as their peers who are not in foster care.”
The Brown Daily Herald (May 5, 2023)
Rhode Island launches first Youth Point in Time Count in five years
Reis said that the organizations learned about conducting a youth count from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, a policy research center focused on children, youth and families, which has a toolkit on how to conduct a youth count.
WAMU (April 18, 2023)
Some face homelessness when leaving foster care, despite D.C. having housing vouchers to help them
And just looking at the initial numbers doesn’t provide a full picture, according to Amy Dworsky, a senior research fellow at the University of Chicago who has written extensively about housing and foster care. Homelessness often comes six months or a year later, Dworksy said, when whatever housing option young people chose falls through, frequently because family support peters out or savings dry up. Local young people say the CFSA-provided options often don’t work, as will be explored in an upcoming article.
Columbus Dispatch (April 17, 2023)
Central Ohio received $6 million for homeless youth. How many were helped?
Each night a young person sleeps outside, they are 2% less likely to maintain housing once they obtain it, said Thesing, quoting research from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
The Imprint (April 13, 2023)
New York’s Runaway and Homeless Minors Can Now Consent to Their Own Health Care
Nationwide, LGBTQ+ youth were twice as likely to experience homelessness as other youth, the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall concluded in a 2018 policy brief. They also had twice the rate of early death during homelessness.
South Bend Tribune (April 12, 2023)
How LGBTQ-friendly can a city be if it’s not affordable to live there?
LGBTQ people are disproportionately at risk of experiencing poverty, at a rate greater than 1 in 5 (22%), compared to 16% in the non-LGBTQ population. LGBTQ youth are more than twice as likely as non-LGBTQ youth to experience homelessness, according to Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. Black LGBTQ people are even more likely to experience homelessness, unemployment and other factors related to economic security.
Best Colleges (April 11, 2023)
Free College for Students With Experience in Foster Care Proposed in California
Students with experience in foster care (SEFC) tend to gravitate toward community colleges. Amy Dworsky, a researcher at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, said during a webinar hosted by the National Research Collaborative for Foster Alumni and Higher Education that in a sample size of nearly 5,500 SEFC in Illinois, 86% of those who went to college initially enrolled in community college.
The Statehouse File (April 6, 2023)
Human sexuality bill runs gauntlet of amendments in fraught Senate debate
According to a recent study from Chapin Hall, a public policy research institute at the University of Chicago, LGBTQ young people are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ youth.
The Imprint (April 4, 2023)
The Hidden Homeless: Exploring the Impact of Housing Inequality on Young Adults
Childhood trauma, challenging family dynamics, and weak relational ties increase risks of basic needs insecurity. A 2021 report by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago found that housing insecure youth and youth experiencing homelessness share common characteristics…
The Mercury/Manhattan Kansas (April 3, 2023)
Report: Kansas foster care placement instability driven by older youths
Leanne Heaton, senior researcher and data manager at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, shared with a joint House and Senate committee Friday an evaluation of placement instability within the Kansas foster care program.
Capitol News Illinois (March 6, 2023)
High prices, gaps in availability across Illinois highlight patchwork child care system
According to research from Chapin Hall, a policy research group based at the University of Chicago, the early months of the pandemic were particularly hard for the child care industry, with 36 percent of the workforce experiencing interruptions in employment, meaning they quit or were fired from their job.