How the Earned Income Tax Credit Sustains Informal Child-Care Arrangements with Family Members and Helps Maintain Intergenerational Relations

Abstract

The earned income tax credit (EITC) is one of the largest antipoverty programs in the United States. Although extensive research suggests the EITC is linked to various positive parent and child outcomes, limited attention has been paid to how familial obligations shape ways in which the EITC is spent. Research indicates that social networks of extended family and friends can be vital to low-income families’ social and economic well-being, suggesting the importance of exploring their roles in shaping EITC spending decisions. Drawing from in-depth interviews with primarily women of color, this article reveals how some women maintain extended family caregiving arrangements through monetary gifts from their EITC. The women’s narratives illustrate how they identified the social and economic value of the caregiving and how caregiving and monetary reciprocity facilitated the maintenance of intergenerational social support; they also expose limitations of current policies designed to support care arrangements among low-income families.