Reforming the American Welfare Family : 1969-1981

Abstract

Between 1969 and 1981 the United States was engaged in a major effort to solve in what was considered a rational and systematic way the problem of the poor and dependent family. In 1969, under the Nixon administration, a Family Assistance Plan (FAP) to replace welfare-need-based, non-contributory maintenance income for the poor-was proposed. It had a checkered career over the next few years, with the character of the proposed program being varied with each year of Congressional action in response to political criticism and emergent findings from major social experiments.