Understanding Neglect: Poverty

Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):

Opening quote: Jennifer Jones – Chief Strategy Officer, Prevent Child Abuse America

Host: Luke Waldo

Experts:

• Dr. Kristi Slack – Professor, University of Wisconsin; Founder, Prof2Prof; Affiliate, Institute for Research on Poverty
• Bryan Samuels – Director, Chapin Hall
• Jennifer Jones – Chief Strategy Officer, Prevent Child Abuse America
• Bregetta Wilson – Lived Experience Coordinator, Wisconsin’s Department of Children and Families
• Tim Grove – Senior Consultant – Wellpoint Care Network

0:03 – Jennifer Jones – Opening statement on systemic challenges and poverty.

00:59 – Luke Waldo – Introduction to another root cause of neglect - poverty.

• Dr. Jerry Milner and David Kelly article: It’s Time to Stop Confusing Poverty with Neglect.

4:47 – Kristi Slack – Child welfare statistics and disparities. Impact of poverty and housing instability on families and child welfare involvement. Economic safety net’s impact on child maltreatment prevention.

• Institute for Research on Poverty article: Preventing Child Maltreatment and Neglect in the United States: Opportunities for Change

9:07 – Gabe McGaughey and Kristi Slack – Poverty is a constellation of issues. Poverty compounding other risk factors.

13:07 – Luke Waldo – Family vulnerability as a consequence of systems’ failures.

14:15 – Bryan Samuels – Economic loss, unemployment, and housing instability as the most likely predictors of child welfare involvement. Financial benefits, childcare, housing stability, and employment as a social safety net.

16:12 – Jennifer Jones – Child well-being system to support overloaded families. Economic and concrete supports reduce risk of child welfare involvement.

• Prevent Child Abuse America article: Addressing the Root Causes of Child Neglect

21:01 – Kristi Slack – Complex, multi-faceted nature of neglect. Class-action lawsuit that led to the Norman Fund for overloaded families living in poverty.

• Norman Fund

23:32 – Kristi Slack – Challenges that arise when families are experiencing housing instability.

25:26 – Luke Waldo – Complicated relationship between poverty and child neglect. Introduction to social capital.

26:53 – Bregetta Wilson – Self-efficacy. The stress and impacts of poverty.

30:33 – Gabe McGaughey and Tim Grove – The impact of trauma and social capital on economic mobility.

• Raj Chetty Atlantic article
• Scaling Wellness in Milwaukee (SWIM)

34:02 – Bregetta Wilson – The impact of planting seeds on self-efficacy.

35:37 – Luke Waldo – 3 Key Takeaways

38:07 – Closing credits and Gratitude

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