Nonassistance Income (tables 8-11)

Only 22 percent of the families had nonassistance income, which averaged $248 a month. The major source of nonassistance income was earnings of about $327 per family with earnings. The proportion of families with income remained stable or declined from 1975 in every comparable category of nonassistance income. Other cash income in 1977 included child support payments still being made directly to the family. Social security benefits were a third appreciable source of family income. A family may receive social security benefits when a father or mother is aged, disabled, or dead.

in home....

Other cash income.. Other income in-kind with money value..

Disregarded Income (tables 12-14)

Disregards are both mandatory and optional. For example, work expenses (amount determined by State) and the first $30 plus one-third of the remainder of gross earned income must be disregarded; up to $5 per month of any income of recipients or that which is set aside for future identifiable needs of dependent childern may be disregarded. Over one-half of the families with nonassistance income had some of it disregarded for AFDC budget purposes. The average amount disregarded was $213 per family. The major types of income disregards were those required in connection with earned income.

Child Support (tables 22-28)

There were court orders or other obligations of child support from an absent parent for 30 percent of the AFDC families. Less than one-half of the monthly amount of child support was actually paid, 40 percent of which was for past months. Seventy-eight percent of child support payments were made to the Child Support Enforcement Agencies.

Food Stamp Program (tables 29-31)

Households in which all members receive federally aided public assistance or general assistance were eligible for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food stamp and donated food programs without further regard to the income and resources of the household members at the time of the study. The eligibility of all other households was subject to maximum allowable income standards. Three in four AFDC families participated in the food stamp program. Available primarily on Indian reservations, few families received donated food.

Household size determined the amount of the monthly coupon allotment, household income the amount of the monthly purchase requirement. The bonus value of food stamps was the difference be

APPENDIX A

Glossary of Selected Terms

Aid to families with dependent children (AFDC). As used in this report, AFDC means money payments with respect to a dependent child or children and includes money payments to meet the needs of the parent(s) or needy relative with whom the child is living and the needs of any other individual living in the same home who is considered essential to the well-being of the child if the resources and the needs of such individual are taken into account in determining the amount of the money payment.

Dependent child. For AFDC, this term means a needy child who has been deprived of parental support or care by reason of the death, continued absence from the home, or physical or mental incapacity of a parent, or, at the option of the States, who is deprived of such support or care because the father is unemployed as defined in Federal regulations. The needy child must be living with his father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, or niece (including such relatives of the half-blood; preceding generations as denoted by prefixes of grand, great, or great-great; and persons who have legally adopted the child or his parents) in a place of residence maintained by one or more of such relatives as his or their own home. The child must be under age 18; or, at the option of the States, 18 years of age but under 21 and a student regularly attending a school, college, university, or a course of vocational or technical training designed to fit the child for gainful employment.

Child recipient. Each dependent child who meets the above criteria is a child recipient. In some States this term includes the unborn child when pregnancy has been medically determined.

Adult recipient. An adult recipient is a needy relative with whom a dependent child is living and whose needs are taken into account in determining the amount of the AFDC money payment. If the parent of at least one of the children is incapacitated, or the father of one of the children is unemployed, the spouse of such parent may also be an adult recipient if the State so elects.

AFDC assistance group. The AFDC assistance group consists of the dependent children (child recipients) as defined above, the adult recipients as defined above, and any other individual living in the same home who is considered essential to the well-being of the child and whose resources and needs are taken into account in determining the amount of the AFDC money payment.

AFDC family. As used in this report, the AFDC family is synonymous with the AFDC assistance group. Other persons related to members of the assistance group may live in the same household. Thus, the AFDC family will sometimes differ from the "family" as it is usually defined. The most commonly used definition of a family is that of the U.S. Bureau of the Census: two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption who reside together.

Household. A household consists of all persons who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is defined as a group of rooms or a single room occupied as separate living quarters, that is, when the occupants do not live and eat with any other persons in the structure and when there is either (a) direct access outside the building or through a common hall or (b) complete kitchen facilities for the exclusive use of the occupants of the household.

Group quarters. Group quarters include all living arrangements other than households. Included are institutions and separate living quarters such as rooming and boarding houses in which there are five or more persons unrelated to the head or, if there is no head, six or more unrelated persons in the unit.

Head of household. Caseworkers were asked to report the head of the household. Reply categories were those shown in table 13. Caseworkers were instructed that the head of the household is the person who is regarded as the head by the members of the household. They were also instructed that the head did not have to be a member of the assistance group.

Race of payee. Caseworkers were asked, "What is the race of payee: white, Negro or black, American Indian, Asian, or other (races)?" They were instructed that if there was any doubt as to how the person's race should properly be classified, the decision should be based on their own judgment of the community appraisal of the person's race.

Spanish origin or descent of payee. Caseworkers were asked, "Is payee's origin or descent: Mexican; Puerto Rican; Cuban; other Spanish; no, none of these?" They were instructed that in all cases, including those of mixed origin or descent, the community appraisal of the person should be the determining factor in answering the question. For the category "other Spanish," they were instructed to consider such characteristics as Spanish surname, use of Spanish as the mother tongue, and place of birth.