Anti‐poverty policies and income maintenance programmes aim to reduce poverty and income inequality, yet rates of poverty and income inequality have remained stable or increased in 20 of 29 developed nations. Although poverty and income inequality have increased in the USA, the depth and reach of income maintenance programmes have eroded, placing undue strain on other societal systems like education and child welfare. The burden of poverty on child welfare is troubling given the strong association between poverty and child welfare involvement. We conducted a literature review to examine the extent to which the US child welfare system acts as an informal income maintenance programme. Three interrelated research questions were explored: (a) How and when, and under what circumstances, does the US child welfare system provide families with cash and in‐kind transfers, that is, income, food, shelter and durable goods? (b) Which cash and in‐kind transfers are most common in the US child welfare system? (c) How do cash and in‐kind transfers impact families in the child welfare system? Our review yielded eight articles. These articles indicated that cash and in‐kind transfers improve programme retention and reduce child welfare involvement. Implications for research, policy and practice are discussed.

中文翻译：

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美国儿童福利制度是否已成为一项非正式的收入维持计划？文献综述

反贫困政策和收入维持计划旨在减少贫困和收入不平等，但在29个发达国家中，有20个国家的贫困和收入不平等率保持稳定或上升。尽管在美国，贫困和收入不平等现象有所加剧，但收入维持计划的深度和范围已受到侵蚀，给教育和儿童福利等其他社会体系造成了不适当的压力。鉴于贫困与参与儿童福利之间的紧密联系，贫困给儿童福利带来的负担令人担忧。我们进行了文献综述，以研究美国儿童福利系统在多大程度上充当了非正式的收入维持计划。探讨了三个相互关联的研究问题：（a）美国儿童福利制度如何以及何时以及在什么情况下为家庭提供现金和实物转移，即收入，食物，住房和耐用品？（b）在美国儿童福利系统中，哪种现金和实物转账最常见？（c）现金和实物转移如何影响儿童福利系统中的家庭？我们的评论产生了八篇文章。这些条款表明，现金和实物转移改善了计划的保留率并减少了儿童福利的参与。讨论了对研究，政策和实践的影响。