WAYS TO MEASURE

• Parent Availability by Race/Ethnicity
• Poverty and Family Structure

Minnesota Legislative Commission on the Economic Status of Women

• July 2008 - Women and Poverty in Minnesota - Minnesota has the highest workforce participation rate among women in the country, and women in Minnesota are entering all levels of higher education at a higher rate than Minnesota’s men. So why do women account for a larger percentage of poor and low-income residents than men in Minnesota? The pay gap is largest for women of color.
  
  
• January 2004 - Children and the Employment Status of their Parents - Three-fourths (75.0%) of children in Minnesota have both parents or their single parent in the labor force; based on 2000 census data.
• February 2004 - Mothers in the Labor Force, Minnesota and United States - In 2000, nearly four in five (79.3%) Minnesota women with children under 18 years were in the labor force; based on 2000 census data.

May 2003 - Informal Kinship Care in Minnesota: A Pilot Study, In Minnesota, there was a 65% increase in grandchildren living with their relatives between 1990 and 2000. It is estimated that up to 47,679 grandchildren live with their grandparents in Minnesota (U.S. Census, 2000), Minnesota Kinship Care Association.

National

May 2009 - The Strengths of Poor Families - The statistics illustrating how poor families are functioning are not always troubling. This analysis found no (or only tiny) differences in several areas of family life between families in poverty and those outside of it. These areas include parent-child relationships, religious attendance, and feeling safe at home and in school. In one case—eating meals together—families in poverty appeared to be doing better than other families, Child Trends Research Brief.

December 2007 - Divorced parents do a good job - Study overturns belief that married couples do better raising kids, MSNBC.

Fall 2006 - U.S. Elementary and Secondary Schools: Equalizing Opportunity or Replicating the Status Quo? - Although education pays off handsomely in the United States, children from low-income families attain less education than children from more advantaged families. This article investigates why family background is so strongly linked to education, The Future of Children.

January 2005 - What We Know About Unmarried Parents: Implications for Building Strong Families Programs, Building Strong Families Project, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

January 2003 - Strengthening Families: A Framework for Interventions, Building Strong Families Project, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.