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September 27, 2014

The Challenges of Low Income Parents

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Do parents in lower wage jobs face more challenges in raising good kids? We’ll talk to an economist whose research findings may surprise you. Then, adoption has been around since humans first walked the Earth. But today, adoption practices have changed in dramatic and fascinating ways.

Episode Segments

InfoTrak: The Challenges of Low Income Parents


Randy Albelda, PhD, Professor of Economics and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Social Policy at University of Massachusetts in Boston recently co-authored a report called “How Youth Are Put at Risk by Parents’ Low-Wage Jobs.” She explained the special challenges faced by low-income parents who are in jobs that lack flexible hours and benefits like health insurance, paid sick days and vacation days. She said these factors impact a child’s education, health and future prospects. She believes that lower wages are part of a long-term trend in the U.S..

InfoTrak: Adoption Nation



Adam Pertman, Executive Director of the non-profit Donaldson Adoption Institute, and author of Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming Our Families--and America discussed the rapidly changing process of adoption, largely driven by the Internet. He said social networking and other online tools have radically changed both the process of adoption and the expectation of privacy, because it is so easy to locate and reunite birth mothers and children years after an adoption. He added that the Internet has also aided the rise of scammers and predators offering to expedite the expensive and lengthy process of adopting a child.

InfoTrak: Parents and Colds


Rodlescia Sneed, Graduate Student in the Psychology Department of Carnegie Mellon University was the co-author of a study that found that parents are 52 percent less likely to develop a cold than non-parents. She explained the possible reasons behind this surprising result. She said the health benefits for a parent appear to continue, even after the offspring has grown to adulthood.

Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Randy Albelda

Randy Albelda is a professor of economics in the Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Dr. Albelda has focused her research and teaching on a range of issues that have important policy implications including women\'s economic status, welfare reform, and family structure. Albelda has authored and co-authored a number of books, articles and reports focused on policies that affect the well-being of working families.

More about Professor Albelda

Adam Pertman

Adam Pertman is Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national nonprofit that is the pre-eminent research, policy and education organization in its field. Pertman – a former Pulitzer-nominated journalist – is also Associate Editor of Adoption Quarterly, the premier research journal dealing with adoption and foster care. He is the author/editor of two newly published books, Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming Our Families &ndash and America (which has been reviewed as \"the most important book ever written on the subject\") and \"Gay and Lesbian Adoption: A New Dimension in Family Diversity\", and has written many other chapters and articles on adoption- and family-related issues in books, scholarly journals and mass-market publications.

Pertman has delivered hundreds of keynotes, trainings and other presentations in this country and internationally for organizations including the Child Welfare League of America, the American Adoption Congress, the National Academy of Sciences, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Joint Council on International Children\'s Services, the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange, the National Association of Child Advocates, and numerous professionals including judges, social workers, psychiatrists, educators and journalists – as well as pre-adoptive and adoptive parents, birthparents and adopted persons. Pertman\'s commentaries on families and children have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Miami Herald and on National Public Radio, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox News, among others. Articles about him, his book and the Adoption Institute have appeared in numerous publications nationwide, including the New York Times and People. As a leading expert on adoption and family issues, he is widely quoted in the media and has been a guest on many programs, including \"Oprah,\" \"Today,\" \"The View\" and \"Nightline.\"

Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute

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