Family Well-Being from a Parent’s Perspective: Investing in Guaranteed Income
By: Valerie Frost
Families need money to raise their children, but too often, lack of financial resources leads to unnecessary family separation. These children are removed from their homes not because their parents don’t love them, but because systemic barriers make it impossible to meet basic needs. The Mother’s Outreach Network’s “Mother Up” guaranteed income pilot is showing a new way forward. It provides parents with direct financial support and demonstrates that keeping families intact is not only possible, but achievable.
The Cost of Caring for Children
In the United States, neglect is the most common reason children are removed from their homes, accounting for more than 60% of child welfare cases. Yet, research shows that what is often labeled “neglect” is closely linked to poverty. Parents struggling to afford food, transportation, or basic household needs are disproportionately at risk of intervention from child protective services.
The cost of raising a child continues to rise faster than most family incomes. Inflation, increasing rents, and the high cost of childcare and healthcare make it increasingly difficult to meet basic needs. Studies show that a two-adult household adding one child sees annual expenses jump by about $22,300, and for two children, the increase can exceed $38,700. Meanwhile, it now costs an average of more than $29,000 per year to raise a young child, an increase of more than 35% over just two years. For many parents, every day feels like a balancing act with no relief in sight. When lack of money becomes a reason for child removal, families are torn apart, and the trauma can reverberate across generations.
What Financial Support Can Do
Providing consistent financial support allows parents to focus on their children rather than constantly worrying about bills, food, and transportation. With sufficient resources, parents can maintain stable homes, address emergencies without fear, and build routines that support their children’s growth and well-being.
Research around the Child Tax Credit found that every extra $100 in credit led families to spend roughly $75 on essentials such as food, housing, child-related services, with the largest impacts among low-income and Black and Hispanic households.It’s not just about money; it’s about security, autonomy, and the ability to parent without constant fear of systemic penalties for being poor.
Other research shows that interventions that reduce financial stress, such as guaranteed income, can strengthen parent-child relationships, improve mental health, and reduce the likelihood of child welfare involvement. Providing families with reliable financial resources is not just compassionate policy; it is evidence-based family preservation.
Spotlight: Mother’s Outreach Network “Mother Up” Pilot
Research and data make it clear: when financial barriers are removed, families thrive. One program putting this into practice is the Mother’s Outreach Network’s “Mother Up” pilot. Let’s take a closer look at who they are, what they’re doing, and the impact their work is having on families in Washington, D.C.
The Mother’s Outreach Network launched a guaranteed income pilot program supporting Black mothers with current or recent child welfare involvement. Through its cash assistance program, Mother Up provided $500 a month to help families meet basic needs and prevent further involvement with child protective services.
The program focused on Black mothers because they are disproportionately affected by child welfare interventions. In D.C., nearly 8 in 10 children in foster care are Black, far exceeding the 54% of the child population they represent.
The Mother Up pilot demonstrates how direct financial support can transform family life. Participants were able to cover basic needs without fear, reported reduced stress, improved parent-child relationships, and experienced renewed household stability.
One mother shared, “I was finally able to buy myself a pair of shoes last weekend. I hadn’t bought anything for myself in two years since I got pregnant. It felt amazing, I wanted to cry.” Programs like this show that when financial barriers are removed, parents can provide nurturing environments and children can thrive, which helps keep families together and prevents unnecessary involvement in the child welfare system.
Benefits for Systems and Communities
Guaranteed income programs also have the potential to reduce long-term costs for child welfare systems. When families remain intact, children avoid the trauma of foster care, parents avoid the stress of legal battles and reunification processes, and communities benefit from stronger, healthier households.
Investing in families is an investment in the future. By addressing financial instability before it leads to family separation, we create conditions for parents to nurture, children to thrive, and families to remain whole.
Learn More
- Watch the Mother Up Guaranteed Income Pilot video
- Read the final report from the Mother Up Phase Two Pilot
This blog is part of a series connected to the Community In-Site podcast, where we explore stories and lessons from the growing family well-being movement. To hear more, visit ThrivingFamiliesSaferChildren.org.
This project was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We thank them for their support and acknowledge that the opinions and conclusions presented in the blogs are those of its authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation.
