Temporary Assistance For Needy Families Program Research Articles

"There's room to do more": a mixed-methods study of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) diversion program and intimate partner violence in Georgia.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a risk factor for homicides and suicides. As poverty is both a predictor and a consequence of IPV, interventions that alleviate poverty-related stressors could mitigate IPV-related harms. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a monthly cash assistance program, is one such potential intervention. In the state of Georgia, the TANF diversion program, which provides a non-recurrent lump-sum payment to deter individuals from monthly TANF benefits, is an understudied component of TANF that may influence the effectiveness of state TANF programs in supporting IPV survivors. This study quantifies and qualifies the role of Georgia's TANF diversion program in shaping IPV-related mortality. This study relies on a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design. Using data from the Georgia Violent Death Reporting System (GA-VDRS), an interrupted time series analysis was conducted to estimate the effect of TANF diversion on IPV-related homicides and suicides. Semi-structured interviews were then administered with TANF policy experts and advocates, welfare caseworkers, and benefit recipients (n = 20) to contextualize the quantitative findings. The interrupted time series analysis revealed three fewer IPV-related deaths per month after implementing TANF diversion, compared to pre-diversion forecasts (coefficient = -3.003, 95%CI [-5.474, -0.532]). However, the qualitative interviews illustrated three themes regarding TANF diversion: (1) it is a "band-aid" solution to the access barriers associated with TANF, (2) it provides short-term relief to recipients making hard choices, and (3) its limitations reveal avenues for policy change. While diversion has the potential to reduce deaths from IPV, it may be an insufficient means of mitigating the poverty-related contributors to IPV harms. Its limitations unveil the need for improved programs to better support IPV survivors.

Women's Lived Experiences with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): How TANF Can Better Support Women's Wellbeing and Reduce Intimate Partner Violence.

Women experiencing poverty are more likely to face intimate partner violence (IPV), poor health, and stigma. IPV survivors are overrepresented among those who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a conditional cash program serving families experiencing poverty. More generous TANF policies may be protective against IPV, but a greater insight into TANF’s effect could be gleaned through a contemporaneous study that examines intersecting determinants of wellbeing and engages community interpretation of findings. Using an adapted Family Stress Model framework and analyzing data through an intersectional and community-based lens, we explore the impact of TANF on women’s wellbeing through in-depth, semi-structured interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic with 13 women who had TANF experience in three U.S. states. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis in MAXQDA and researchers facilitated three member-checking events to enhance validity of result interpretation. Four themes emerged: (1) Low cash and conditional benefits provided limited short-term “relief” but contributed to poverty and hard choices; (2) TANF benefit levels and conditions increased women’s dependence on others, straining relationships; (3) Women undertook extraordinary measures to access TANF, largely to fulfill their roles as mothers; and (4) TANF stigma creates psychological stress, differentially experienced by African Americans. Increasing TANF cash benefits and other cash transfers for those experiencing poverty, adopting solely state funded TANF programs, increasing funding for TANF administration, addressing TANF stigma and racialized narratives, and allowing optional child support participation or a larger “pass-through” of child support are important steps toward making TANF more protective against IPV.

Impact of South Carolina’s TANF Program on Earnings of New Entrants Before and During the Great Economic Recession

AbstractThis study assesses the impact of South Carolina’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, Family Independence (FI), on the longitudinal earnings of three cohorts of new entrants who entered the study before, at the beginning of, and at the height of the 2007-2009 recession. Applicants who began the application process but did not enroll in TANF were propensity-score matched to entrants by background characteristics including pre-intervention earnings history, and served as the comparison group. We constructed a latent growth curve model to test whether earnings histories were similar for the program and comparison groups up until FI intake, to estimate program impact by comparing post-intake earnings of program participants to those of the comparison group, and to determine the statistical significance of cohort differences in program impact. The findings showed FI had a positive impact on the earnings of participants before the recession. The effect became weaker during the state’s period of rising unemployment, and disappeared during the worst economic recession in decades. This study demonstrates the usefulness of longitudinal administrative data, propensity score matching, and latent growth modeling techniques for evaluating the impact of program interventions.

HBCU Trains Communities of Color

In June 2020, the University of the District of Columbia began a dual virtual skills certificate program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The historically black college and university’s (HBCU) introductory program prepared individuals for careers as Contact Tracers and Community Health Workers. A sample of 55 students participated in the pilot program to learn how to investigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The program targeted District residents who received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. The TANF program provided work readiness training to low-income families to enable them to move from public assistance to self-sufficiency. Program participants earned a dual certificate in Contact Tracing and Community Health Worker after completing the 20-hour program. The UDC work readiness program created a career pathway in healthcare which combines education, training, credentialing. The program includes support services to assist individuals with advancing in a high-demand occupation while earning a living wage. The demand for contact training demonstrates that HBCUs are a viable option to engage communities of colors to reduce the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

Some Factors in State TANF Participation by Immigrants: An Examination Using the Group Threat Hypothesis

ABSTRACT This study asked what happens as the proportion of immigrants on states’ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) rolls changes, employing the group threat hypothesis to analyze data dating 2000–2017. The data examined were extracted from compilations of information by federal agencies indicating states’ population by race/ethnicity, poverty and unemployment rates, and TANF participation by immigrants (as a percentage of total participation). Results showed states with relatively larger African American populations often had a lower percentage of immigrants enrolled in their TANF programs. Results also showed a negative association between percentage of TANF participation by immigrants and state unemployment rate. Policy implications are discussed.

The Effects of Welfare Time Limits on Access to Financial Resources: Evidence from the 2010s.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 established the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program within the United States. TANF mandated 60-month lifetime time limits for federal cash assistance dollars. Because states reserve the right to set their own stricter or more generous time limits, the 60-month lifetime limit did not bind in all cases. In recent years, however, several states imposed TANF time limits for the first time or made existing time limits more stringent. Using administrative and survey data, I find that stricter time limits decrease annual TANF participation by 22 percent and annual transfer income by 6 percent. Consistent with binding TANF work requirements, widespread unemployment, and increases in employment among those on the welfare caseload, stricter time limits do not tend to increase employment or earnings among single mothers in states without generous TANF programs at baseline. Evidence suggests that macroeconomic conditions and the labor market potential of TANF recipients play large roles in determining labor-supply effects of decreased TANF generosity.

Paid Leave, Welfare, and Material Hardship After a Birth

ObjectiveTo examine the relationships between state‐sponsored paid leave, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) generosity and participation, and material hardship among low‐income single women following a birth.BackgroundPast research has examined the relationship between public assistance and paid leave after a birth, finding reductions in program enrollment. This research has not accounted for variation in program benefits across states and has largely overlooked implications for family well‐being.MethodWe use a sample (N = 1,174) of low‐income single women who gave birth between 1997 and 2001 from the Survey of Income and Public Program Participation and include measures of TANF generosity across states and over time that were constructed from the Welfare Rules database. A series of multivariate probit regression models are used to estimate the relationship between TANF generosity, paid leave availability, welfare participation, and material hardship while controlling for relevant individual and state‐level characteristics.ResultsPaid leave was associated with less TANF participation, but these reduction are related to the program's generosity. Paid leave, states' welfare work exemptions for mothers of infants, and TANF earnings eligibility limits were associated with a lower likelihood of experiencing some forms of material hardship.ConclusionSome forms of paid leave and TANF program generosity are related to reductions in TANF participation and material hardship after a birth for low‐income single women.ImplicationsThis study demonstrates that researchers should account for variation in TANF programs when considering changes in program enrollment associated with paid leave. Results suggest paid leave may help alleviate some forms of economic stress after a birth, which has implications for maternal, infant, and family well‐being.

Welfare reform's ineligible immigrant parents: Program reach and enrollment barriers

Since the implementation of the 1996 welfare reform act, the child-only Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseload has increased dramatically. Perhaps the least understood child-only population is that of ineligible immigrant parents (IIPs), who are ineligible for TANF because of their citizenship or immigration status. Using data collected through in-depth interviews and focus groups in Stanislaus County, California, this study examines how well California's TANF program serves this at-risk group. We analyze the factors that lead IIPs to seek aid for their children, the enrollment obstacles they face, and TANF's ability to meet their needs. Our results demonstrate that immigration-related fears as well as concerns about caseworkers, stigma, and future government sanctions heighten these parents' reluctance to seek aid. They also create multiple and often population-specific barriers to TANF enrollment. We close with research and policy recommendations for serving this vulnerable population.

Was it the economy or reform that precipitated the steep decline in the US welfare caseload?

Objectives of the 1996 overhaul of the US welfare system included reducing dependency, raising employment and de-incentivizing out-of-wedlock fertility. Using public use state-level panel data from 1990 to 2005, I analyse how state implementation of welfare reform simultaneously affects the caseload, employment and out-of-wedlock births (henceforth, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) objectives). Because endogeneity and simultaneity could not be rejected, I use Three-Stage Least Squares (3SLS) method. Results indicated that most of the steep decline in the caseload is attributed to welfare reform, while the economy's overall effect paled in comparison. However, lagged and contemporaneous unemployment individually ranked second and third behind the Hispanic share of state population. The conservative tilt over the period studied ranked forth, followed in declining order by full family sanctions, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) payments, time limits (lagged by length), access to abortion clinics, lump-sum TANF diversion payments, and TANF benefit payments. Findings also suggest that policy does not always work as intended: caseloads are found to be higher in states that have highly regarded family formation and job retention TANF programs; and EITC payments are associated with lower not higher caseloads. The most compelling finding in this study is that low-income families likely turn first to unemployment insurance and then to TANF assistance.

Are Strong Work-First Welfare Policies Aligned with Generous Child Care Provisions? What States Are Doing and the Implications for Social Work

Welfare reform devolved authority to states in designing and implementing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child care subsidy programs, thereby creating substantial variation in both programs across states. TANF and child care subsidy programs are, in theory, designed to work together to support employment among low-income families, yet we have little information on how these two programs collectively impact work and family life among the target population. This study examines the intensity of TANF work requirements and generosity of child care subsidy provisions across states and the interaction of the two programs. Overall, we find that states with stringent work requirements do not typically provide generous child care subsidies. This article discusses the implications for families, policy, and social work practice in light of our findings.

Keeping the Poor in Their Place: A 'Special Need' Under the Fourth Amendment for Mandatory Drug Testing of Welfare Recipients?

In July 2011 Luis Lebron applied to the Florida Department of Children and Families for benefits under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Lebron maintains that he has never used illegal drugs, and there is no reason to believe otherwise. Nonetheless, the state of Florida required that he submit to a drug test, paid for at his own expense, as a condition of his eligibility for TANF benefits under Florida’s recently enacted House Bill 353, Drug screening for applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (HB 353). Lebron refused to submit to the test because he believed that requiring him to pay for and take a drug test when there is no reason to suspect he does now or ever has used drugs violates his rights under the Fourth Amendment to keep his bodily contents private.HB 353 requires any person seeking welfare benefits to pay for, to take at an approved location, and to pass a comprehensive drug test. Florida governor Rick Scott, saying that it was “unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction,” signed HB 353 into law on May 31, 2011. The law took effect on July 1, 2011. Those who fail are ineligible for benefits for one year. This Note contends that HB 353, by broadly assuming that all people seeking welfare are predisposed to drug abuse, violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. Valid searches under the Fourth Amendment must either be based upon individualized suspicion or mandate a “special needs” exception; Florida’s law satisfies neither requirement.Part I of this Note discusses the federal TANF program, its transition to a state-controlled block-grant program in the 1990s, and Florida’s history of drug testing welfare recipients that led to the passage of HB 353. Part II establishes that urinalysis drug testing is a search under the Fourth Amendment. Part III looks to the historical roots of the Fourth Amendment and the foundational importance that Britain’s use of unreasonable searches played in bringing about the American revolution. Part IV traces the history of the Supreme Court’s “special needs” exception to the general requirement of individualized suspicion for reasonable searches. Finally, in Part V, the Note analyzes the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence and contends that the state of Florida cannot claim a “special need” for its policy of universal suspicionless searches.

Mental Disorders and Service Use Among Welfare and Disability Program Participants in Fee-for-Service Medicaid

Mental Disorders and Service Use Among Welfare and Disability Program Participants in Fee-for-Service Medicaid

The Impact of 9/11 on the Noncitizen Welfare Caseload: A Time-Series Analysis

ABSTRACT The tragedy of 9/11 had more far-reaching social and economic consequences for the nation than those found for many individuals on that day. Between October 2001 and May 2002, Nevada witnessed a 25% increase in the total number of households on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, commonly referred to as welfare. During the same time, households headed by a noncitizen increased their participation in the TANF program by 40%. This study examines the differential impact of 9/11, as well as of the economy and other external developments, on noncitizen and citizen welfare caseloads in a single state. Two monthly time series models are specified that explain and compare trends in the noncitizen and citizen welfare caseloads from April 1998 to June 2002. The findings suggest that, all else constant, 9/11 had a differential impact on the noncitizen and the citizen caseloads. All else constant, 9/11 events increased the noncitizen welfare caseload whereas a similar impact for the citizen caseload was not found. The findings also strongly suggest that the business cycle shapes noncitizens' participation in public assistance programs more closely than citizens' participation. Future research should investigate the extent to which 9/11 affected the behaviors of families on welfare over the long run.

State Responses to the Family Formation Goals of Welfare

Current welfare policy discussions emphasize the potential role of marriage and two‐parent family formation in alleviating poverty and improving child well‐being. However, the marriage and family formation goals of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program were adopted within the context of unprecedented state flexibility in program design. This context prompted the need to understand state and local implementation of such goals. Using longitudinal data that track TANF implementation in 17 states, this study analyzes the policy choices that states made under TANF concerning marriage and family formation. Although states vary considerably in the implementation of family formation provisions, important patterns emerge in the strategies that states employ to meet these goals and in the degree to which they use the TANF program to do so.

A Study of Health Care Coverage Among Children in Immigrant Families in the Post Welfare-Reform Era

ABSTRACT The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) has targeted lawful immigrants by imposing a broad range of restrictions on access to federally funded benefit programs. Within the federal restrictions, however, states have been granted considerable latitude concerning immigrants. In Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid, the major benefit programs for low-income children, states are authorized to determine whether these programs are to be provided to immigrant families. First, this study examines variations in immigrant provisions across states in Medicaid, TANF, and state health care programs. Second, the study estimates the impact of state immigrant provisions in those programs on the uninsured among children of immigrants. Using the 1999 Current Population Survey (CPS), the study finds that state-funded Medicaid and state health care programs made available to ineligible immigrants (under PRWORA) significantly decrease the risk of being uninsured for children of immigrants, while controlling all other socio-economic-geographical variables. A child's citizenship is also found to be a significant and strong predictor for being uninsured among children of immigrants.

Interpersonal Violence Among Women Seeking Welfare: Unraveling Lives

Exposure to violence is a widespread problem among women who receive welfare benefits. Research has focused on partner violence among women with children on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), ignoring low-income women without dependent children who are eligible for General Assistance (GA). We report findings from a survey of 1235 women seeking TANF (N=1095) and GA (N=140) throughout a California county. Estimates of recent physical, sexual, and severe violence were high in both populations. However, the highest rates occurred among women without children seeking GA, suggesting that they are at higher risk for sexual violence and more severe forms of physical violence, especially from intimate partners. This increased risk is partly accounted for by the co-occurrence of other serious health and social problems. In multivariate analyses, past-year violence was associated with substance use (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=2.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.5, 2.9), recent homelessness (AOR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.4, 2.6), family fragmentation including divorce or separation (AOR=3.1, 95% CI 1.8, 5.2), or foster care involvement (AOR=2.2, 95% CI=1.1, 4.5) Welfare reform created TANF programs to address domestic violence. Women seeking GA may need similar services because of the high prevalence of violence.

Job Separation Behavior of Welfare Recipients: Results from a Unique Case Study

Working Paper 2004-12 May 2004 Abstract: This paper uses a unique personnel data set to explore job separation behavior among welfare hires. Our results indicate that welfare hires are no less stable than similar nonwelfare hires; however, time until separation does differ across welfare status by reason for separation. We also found that the presence of a mentoring program will increase time until separation for both welfare and nonwelfare hires. JEL classification: I38, J24, J64 Key words: TANF, welfare, job search, job separation I. Introduction and Background In 1996 the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) became law, eliminating the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. (1) In place of AFDC, states receive a block grant to establish a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. New rules under the TANF program impose stricter time limits and work requirements. Once a TANF recipient is determined to be 'job ready' or she has received assistance for 24 months, she is required to work. (2) Under AFDC, relatively few recipients were required to work. For example, the Job Opportunity and Basic Skills (JOBS) program, which TANF also replaced, required only about 10% of the AFDC caseload to participate. But under TANF, there is pressure on the states to increase their work participation rates in order to receive their full block grant amount. By 1999, states must have had at least 35% of their mandatory TANF caseload participating in work activities for at least 25 hours (for all families) and 90% of their two-parent TANF families working 35 hours or more. Due to the changes brought about by the PRWORA, an increasing number of individuals are required to find a job, some entering the labor force for the first time. Many of these job seekers have a low skill level, little work experience, and other barriers to employment, such as transportation and child-care needs. (3) Most of the literature examining questions related to the transition from welfare to work focuses on employment barriers of former welfare recipients and the availability of jobs for former welfare recipients. Few studies have examined the turnover behavior of former welfare recipients. (4) The fear of many employers is that welfare recipients are less stable (higher turnover) workers than non-welfare recipients. And, high turnover is, of course, costly because of personnel processing, orientation, training, etc. This paper utilizes unique, firm-level post-PRWORA data to examine the separation behavior of welfare and non-welfare hires and the effectiveness of a firm's work programs on reducing turnover. The following questions are addressed: (1) Is the separation behavior of former welfare recipients, in fact, different from other workers? If so, how and why does it differ? (2) What characteristics of a firm's work program contribute to higher retention rates? (3) Does the time to separation vary by welfare status for different reasons for separating? In other words, do welfare hires separate from their employer sooner than non-welfare hires for personal versus professional reasons? 5 The answers to these questions have implications for firms' hiring policies and the potential effectiveness of work programs. By identifying factors contributing to higher retention rates, especially factors related to the type of work programs in place, more effective work programs can be designed. After all, the determination of a successful welfare-to-work transition does not conclude merely when the individual finds employment. Most likely due to the relatively new public policy interest in hiring welfare recipients, there are few studies which empirically examine the separation behavior of welfare hires. Whenever examined, turnover among welfare hires has uniformly been found to be high. For example, Berg et al. (1992) find that 46 percent of recent welfare recipients lost or quit their job in the first three months of employment and 73 percent have lost or quit their job within one year. …

Assessing the Impact of Welfare Reform on Single Mothers

THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), signed into law in 1996, transformed the U.S. welfare system. PRWORA replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Since its inception in 1935 as part of the Social Security Act, AFDC had been the main welfare program providing assistance to low-income single mothers. But a number of factors, particularly the rapid growth in the never-married single-mother population and a resumption of growth in caseloads in the early 1990s (following the surge of the late 1960s and early 1970s; figure 1), rendered the program unpopular. (1) Under the new TANF program, welfare participation among single mothers has dropped dramatically, from 25 percent in 1996 to 9 percent today. At the same time, the fraction of single mothers who work has increased from 74 percent in 1996 to 79 percent today. The goal of this paper is to ascertain what features of welfare reform, if any, have been most responsible for this decline in welfare participation and increase in work among single mothers. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Two factors complicate our task. First, a key feature of PRWORA was that it reduced federal authority over welfare policy, giving the states much greater leeway in the design of their own individual TANF programs. A great deal of program heterogeneity has emerged across states, making it difficult to develop a set of variables that comprehensively characterize the different state TANF programs. Second, a number of other recent developments may also have contributed to the changes in welfare and work participation since 1996. These factors, such as the strong U.S. economy of 1996-2000 and the significant expansion of the earned income tax credit (EITC) after 1993, must be controlled for in order to isolate the impact of particular elements of state TANF policies. One important fact lends credence to the idea that factors other than PRWORA may account for the lion's share of recent caseload declines: the dramatic drop in welfare participation (and the dramatic increase in work) among single mothers actually began in 1993-94, before PRWORA's enactment (figure 2). From 1993 to 1996 AFDC participation fell from 32 percent to 25 percent. On the other hand, beginning around 1993, many states began to obtain federal waivers allowing them to adopt TANF-like reforms of their AFDC programs. Such reforms included work requirements, time limits on benefits, sanctions for failure to meet work requirements, and family caps. These changes may have contributed substantially to caseload declines even before PRWORA. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] At the same time that PRWORA delegated greater control of welfare policy to the states, it also mandated nationwide many of the popular features introduced under state waivers, such as time limits and work requirements. To understand the sense in which the federal law mandates certain features of state TANF programs, one must understand how federal TANF funds are distributed to the states. Under AFDC, states received federal matching funds based on their AFDC expenditures. PRWORA converted these matching funds to block grants. The block grant for a state was fixed at a level related to federal funding of AFDC benefits and other related programs in the year when that funding had been highest in that state. States were given substantial leeway in how the block grant funds could be used: for example, they may use it to support child care (an important postreform development to which we will return). However, to avoid fiscal penalties on the federal block grant, states must adhere to a maintenance of effort (MOE) rule: states must maintain their spending on assistance for needy families at no less than 75 to 80 percent of their pre-1996 level. (2) PRWORA requires that state TANF programs set a five-year lifetime limit for any individual receiving federally funded aid, although states may exempt up to 20 percent of their caseload from the limit. …

Welfare recipients: How do they become independent?

This research used data concerning recipients' employment, receipt of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), receipt of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and poverty status to develop a of by welfare recipients. Using U.S. Department of Labor survey data, a sample of AFDC/TANF recipients was analyzed through event history analysis. The results show that welfare reforms launched in 1996 moved dependent recipients out of welfare but had no effect on recipients' chances of leaving welfare. New two-year limits on unbroken program participation (and a five-year lifetime limit) pushed many unprepared recipients into poverty, or not. Economic conditions became worse for people than for those on welfare. The study also found that some former welfare recipients did go to work and eventually leave welfare and poverty. Occupational skills, work experience, child support, marriage, and experience in dependency or supplementation were among the factors promoting such a change. Key words: autonomy; dependency; self-reliance; supplementation; welfare recipients ********** Since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (P.L. 104-193) was passed in 1996, reformed welfare programs have been experimenting with new policies. Passage of this cornerstone legislation replaced decades-old Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The TANF program emphasizes the welfare-to-work principle. To help welfare recipients leave welfare and join the workforce, state TANF programs generally provide employment support services (for example, child care, limited medical coverage) and enforce aid restrictions (for example, time-limited benefits, work quotas, and sanctions). Welfare recipients who are able-bodied adults are required to be employed within two years of enrolling in a TANF program. Those who do not find employment lose all benefits. Furthermore, TANF benefits are limited to five years over a recipient's lifetime. The new approach is controversial. Not only has the sufficiency of the child care and medical benefits been called into question, the new time restrictions have been said to force many unprepared recipients to leave welfare. After leaving welfare, many people are likely to continue living in poverty, despite being employed (McCrate & Smith, 1998; Riemer, 1997). Therefore, it is important to understand the effect of welfare reform on recipients' employment and welfare use, as well as on their financial status after leaving welfare. FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE AND TYPOLOGY OF ADAPTATIONS Financial independence means succeeding economically to the point of supplying one's own needs for shelter, food, clothing, and other necessities. Financial independence is achieved typically through employment; it is impeded by welfare use. Financial independence constitutes a continuum. Some people are employed for higher wages than others, for a variety of reasons. Many who are employed live well above the poverty line, but many live below that line, despite having regular employment. Some of these working poor individuals need public assistance (or other aid) to pay ordinary living costs. Whereas some are employed and still must participate in welfare, others rely entirely on public aid. This article presents a typology of adaptations that helps explain the differential behavior of welfare recipients. This study used concepts such as welfare use, employment, and poverty status to define four types of adaptation exhibited by welfare recipients--dependency, supplementation, self-reliance, and autonomy (see Figure 1). Dependency on welfare is defined as reliance on AFDC or TANF to meet all financial needs. Utterly dependent welfare recipients are unemployed, generate no earnings, and live in poverty. …

Unknow Title Article ID 2178

The end of the millennium marked a major change in U.S. treatment of its low-income parents and children. In 1996, the U.S. implemented a massive welfare reform program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This program replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), eliminated the welfare safety net, and mandated that progressively larger and larger proportions of the population of low-income parents receiving public assistance work at least 30 hours per week. We have monitored the effects of these changes by conducting repeated in-depth interviews with 150 women from across Wisconsin who have been affected by these changes. The State of Wisconsin was a leader in implementing welfare reform. In the 1990's, Wisconsin implemented a massive welfare reform program called Wisconsin Works (W-2), a program that became the model for what later became the federal TANF program. Wisconsin had a long history of nationally significant innovation in social policy, beginning with such Progressive Era reforms as workers' compensation and unemployment compensation. 2 Wisconsin's 1990's governor, Tommy Thompson, established himself as a leading figure in the national welfare reform debate and became the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2001. [End Page 759] Wisconsin applied the new welfare reform policies earlier, more radically, and more aggressively than any other state—the 30 hour work rule was applied to all low income parents receiving assistance who were not officially designated as disabled and whose children were older than 12 weeks. The speed and magnitude of this change were incredible, instantaneously forcing tens of thousands of people into the low-wage labor market, something thought to be nearly incomprehensible by major policy advisors only a few years before. 3 This change provided a new population of low wage workers to businesses and non-profit organizations and and no doubt contributed to the fact that Wisconsin's per capita income fell below the national average during this time period. 4 The emphasis of welfare programs instantly changed from providing services to those who required help to mandating that parents must work first before their families could become eligible for aid. Some argue that work was valued with little regard to whether or not the children left behind received adequate care or to what is needed to parent successfully. Because the changes which occurred quickly in Wisconsin are occurring more gradually in other states, Wisconsin can be considered a laboratory for the entire TANF program. 5 The experiences of the families in Wisconsin affected by W-2 and TANF are documented by our longitudinal qualitative research and provide insights into what families affected by TANF are experiencing nationally. These experiences vary according to the personal and family resources available to each woman. For the vast majority, welfare reform brought with it continued poverty and economic instability. A significant minority also experienced severe deprivation that included hunger, homelessness, and deteriorating health. The experiences of women facing welfare reform in the U.S. are in many ways parallel to the experiences of women in countries affected by the structural adjustment policies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Parallels are most striking in the consequences of both sets of policies for the lives of women and children in the areas of nutrition, health, education, and child welfare. Both structural adjustment and U.S. welfare reform have resulted in reductions in health care and nutrition. Structural adjustment policies require that governments reduce spending, and this requirement has resulted in profound cuts in health care and food subsidies. 6 Since most of those dependent upon these programs were women and children, they were hurt the most by these cuts. 7 8 The increase in hunger and homelessness, 9 the increase in poverty; 10 11 and the decrease in health care expenditures resulted in an increase in the infant mortality rate. 12 [End Page...