Guaranteed Income Works: for families With Children
Data from four mayor-led guaranteed income pilots in the South shows a positive connection between guaranteed income and the well-being of both children and parents.
The new brief from researchers at Abt Associates, “My kids deserve the world”: How children in the Southeast benefit from guaranteed income, is based on stories shared by 67 parents and guardians receiving a guaranteed income in Atlanta, GA; Birmingham, AL; Louisville, KY; and Shreveport, LA.
In all these parents’ experiences, guaranteed income brought meaningful positive changes for themselves and their children. The findings in this research brief add to the body of evidence that guaranteed income programs improve child welfare and are most effective in doing so when the payments are ongoing.
Key Takeaways
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For all interviewees, guaranteed income allowed them to provide for their children’s basic material needs in ways they could not before. Parents were able to obtain stable housing for their families, decrease food insecurity for the household, address children’s health needs, and/or buy them necessities such as clothes and shoes.
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Guaranteed income helped improve many children’s relationships to school, including their behavior, academic performance, and enthusiasm. With guaranteed income, parents also had greater flexibility with their work hours and spent more time at home with their children, including helping them with homework.
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Receiving guaranteed income allowed recipients more choice in the type of job, schedule, and number of hours that better suited their children’s needs. One mother described being home on Christmas day for the first time in her children’s lives, because she was able to forgo the holiday shift that paid time and a half.
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Guaranteed income allowed parents to invest in their children in ways they had long desired to but could not afford. From paying for extracurricular activities that expanded children’s horizons, to setting aside intentional “family fun time”, guaranteed income promoted stronger parent-child bonds, helped children feel valued and improved their quality of life.
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By enabling them to better meet their children’s material needs, about half of parents felt happier and more satisfied with their parenting. Being able to feel like they can meet their children’s needs helped parents hope for and believe in a better future.
