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Family, Life Course, and Society

University of Massachusetts Boston

2013

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Law

Transracial Foster Care And Adoption: Issues And Realities, Fern L. Johnson, Stacie Mickelson, Mariana Lopez Davila Sep 2013

Transracial Foster Care And Adoption: Issues And Realities, Fern L. Johnson, Stacie Mickelson, Mariana Lopez Davila

New England Journal of Public Policy

The article places transracial foster care and adoption into a broader perspective that highlights social and cultural factors and the reasons for controversy about this adoption option. The first section describes the demographics of children in the foster care system. This is followed by an overview of requirements for approval as foster and adoptive parents in Massachusetts and information about the laws governing transracial adoption. The controversy over transracial adoption is laid out by explaining the race-blind and race-matching positions. Policy priorities are outlined that take into account the main points of controversy. The final section focuses on growth in …

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Fact Sheet: What Influences Plans To Work After Ages 62 And 65?, Maximiliane E. Szinovacz, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston Sep 2013

Fact Sheet: What Influences Plans To Work After Ages 62 And 65?, Maximiliane E. Szinovacz, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gerontology Institute Publications

Timing of retirement and, implicitly, plans to work in later life have great policy relevance. They affect Social Security expenditures, employers’ pension expenditures, as well as labor force supply and demand. In light of the recent recession, it is particularly important to explore whether economic downturns and workers’ financial status influence their later-life work plans. To answer this question, we analyzed data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which included questions about expectations to work full-time after age 62 and age 65.

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Gender And Marital Status Differences In Retirement Planning, Maximiliane E. Szinovacz, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston Aug 2013

Gender And Marital Status Differences In Retirement Planning, Maximiliane E. Szinovacz, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gerontology Institute Publications

During the past decades, women have increasingly joined the labor force and worked in their later years. Yet women, especially married women, often have shorter work histories than their male counterparts due to taking time off for child care or care for ailing relatives. Are they also different in their retirement expectations? To answer this question, we explore gender and marital status differences in retirement plans.

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Gray Matters Behind Bars, Howard Manly Jul 2013

Gray Matters Behind Bars, Howard Manly

Trotter Review

Forty years ago, the nation got tough on crime. It is now paying the price as the skyrocketing cost of incarcerating aging inmates is haunting state and federal prison budgets.

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Testimony Before The Erisa Advisory Council, Ellen A. Bruce Jun 2013

Testimony Before The Erisa Advisory Council, Ellen A. Bruce

Pension Action Center Publications

I am the director of the Pension Action Center of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. In that capacity, I run the New England Pension Assistance Project (NEPAP), a U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA)-funded pension counseling project, and the Illinois Pension Assistance Project (IPAP) funded by the Retirement Research Foundation. Both of these projects represent low- and moderate-income plan participants who are having difficulty claiming their employer-sponsored retirement income. The AoA funds six pension counseling projects covering 29 states; all of which represent clients in much the same way we do at the Pension Action Center. My …

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Pension Action Center, Michele Tolson, Pension Action Center, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston Apr 2013

Pension Action Center, Michele Tolson, Pension Action Center, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Pension Action Center (PAC) strives to improve retirees’ and workers’ standard of living in retirement through individual case advocacy; referrals to appropriate programs and professionals; and issue analysis and reform of public policy. The center, which is part of the Gerontology Institute at UMass Boston, focuses on the experience of participants in retirement plans throughout its work. The PAC is a one-of-a-kind organization in New England that touches the lives of thousands of people.

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Community Mediation Of Parenting Disputes Between Estranged Parents, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Kaila Obstfeld Eisenkraft Jan 2013

Community Mediation Of Parenting Disputes Between Estranged Parents, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Kaila Obstfeld Eisenkraft

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

Community mediation, characterized by free or low cost mediation services delivered primarily by volunteer mediators, aims to provide effective dispute resolution services to a broad spectrum of the population, particularly to underserved and low-income populations. The present study seeks to determine whether community mediation fulfills this goal with respect to divorce/separation-related parenting disputes while concomitantly testing the legitimacy of concerns about the quality of mediation services offered according to a community mediation model. Thus, the effectiveness of community mediation in resolving these disputes is measured through indicators reported by mediation participants, such as the population served, mediation results and party …

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