Welfare, the Family, and Reproductive Behavior

Welfare, the Family, and Reproductive Behavior
Author: Committee on Population
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 217
Release: 1998-06-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309522307

The design of welfare programs in an era of reform and devolution to the states must take into account the likely effects of programs on demographic behavior. Most research on welfare in the past has examined labor market issues, although there have also been some important evaluations of the effects of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program on out-of-wedlock childbearing. Much less information is available on other issues equally central to the debate, including effects on abortion decisions, marriage and divorce, intrafamily relations, household formation, and living arrangements. This volume of papers contains reviews and syntheses of existing evidence bearing on the demographic impacts of welfare and ideas for how to evaluate new state-level reforms.

Changing Welfare

Changing Welfare
Author: Rachel A. Gordon
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 144199274X

This book is concerned with the sweeping changes that took place in public assistance programs at the end of the 20th century and the way in which the original and reformed versions of these programs relate to the well-being of children and their families. It is a valuable reference for practitioners and policymakers who are concerned with children and child-related issues, psychologists, sociologists, social workers, social program administrators, and students in psychology, social work, sociology, political science, and education.

Family and Child Well-being After Welfare Reform

Family and Child Well-being After Welfare Reform
Author: Douglas Besharov
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351520504

Since their historic high in 1994, welfare caseloads in the United States have dropped an astounding 59 percent--more than 5 million fewer families receive welfare. Family and Child Well-Being after Welfare Reform, now in paperback, explores how low-income children and their families are faring in the wake of welfare reform. Contributors to the volume include leading social researchers. Can existing surveys and other data be used to measure trends in the area? What key indicators should be tracked? What are the initial trends after welfare reform? What other information or approaches would be helpful? The book covers a broad range of topics: an update on welfare reform (Douglas J. Besharov and Peter Germanis); ongoing major research (Peter H. Rossi); material well-being, such as earnings, benefits, and consumption (Richard Bavier); family versus household (Wendy D. Manning); fatherhood, cohabitation, and marriage (Wade F. Horn); teenage sex, pregnancy, and nonmarital births (Isabel V. Sawhill); child maltreatment and foster care (Richard J. Gelles); homelessness and housing (John C. Weicher); child health and well-being (Lorraine V. Klerman); nutrition, food security, and obesity (Harold S. Beebout); crime, juvenile delinquency, and dysfunctional behavior (Lawrence W. Sherman); drug use (Peter Reuter); mothers' work and child care (Julia B. Isaacs); and the activities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Don Winstead and Ann McCormick). When welfare reform was first debated, many people feared that it would hurt the poor, especially children. The contributors find little evidence to suggest this has occurred. As time limits and other programmatic requirements take hold, more information will be needed to assess the condition of low-income families after welfare reform. This informative volume establishes a baseline for that assessment.

For Better and For Worse

For Better and For Worse
Author: Greg J. Duncan
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2002-01-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1610448286

The 1996 welfare reform bill marked the beginning of a new era in public assistance. Although the new law has reduced welfare rolls, falling caseloads do not necessarily mean a better standard of living for families. In For Better and For Worse, editors Greg J. Duncan and P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale and a roster of distinguished experts examine the evidence and evaluate whether welfare reform has met one of its chief goals-improving the well-being of the nation's poor children. For Better and For Worse opens with a lively political history of the welfare reform legislation, which demonstrates how conservative politicians capitalize on public concern over such social problems as single parenthood to win support for the radical reforms. Part I reviews how individual states redesigned, implemented, and are managing their welfare systems. These chapters show that most states appear to view maternal employment, rather that income enhancement and marriage, as key to improving child well-being. Part II focuses on national and multistate evaluations of the changes in welfare to examine how families and children are actually faring under the new system. These chapters suggest that work-focused reforms have not hurt children, and that reforms that provide financial support for working families can actually enhance children's development. Part III presents a variety of perspectives on policy options for the future. Remarkable here is the common ground for both liberals and conservatives on the need to support work and at the same time strengthen safety-net programs such as Food Stamps. Although welfare reform-along with the Earned Income Tax Credit and the booming economy of the nineties-has helped bring mothers into the labor force and some children out of poverty, the nation still faces daunting challenges in helping single parents become permanent members of the workforce. For Better and For Worse gathers the most recent data on the effects of welfare reform in one timely volume focused on improving the life chances of poor children.

The New World of Welfare

The New World of Welfare
Author: Rebecca M. Blank
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 546
Release: 2004-05-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780815798378

Congress must reauthorize the sweeping 1996 welfare reform legislation by October 1, 2002. A number of issues that were prominent in the 1995-96 battle over welfare reform are likely to resurface in the debate over reauthorization. Among those issues are the five-year time limit, provisions to reduce out-of-wedlock births, the adequacy of child care funding, problems with Medicaid and food stamp receipt by working families, and work requirements. Funding levels are also certain to be controversial. Fiscal conservatives will try to lower grant spending levels, while states will seek to maintain them and gain additional discretion in the use of funds. Finally, a movement to encourage states to promote marriage among low-income families is already taking shape. The need for reauthorization presents an opportunity to assess what welfare reform has accomplished and what remains to be done. The New World of Welfare is an attempt to frame the policy debate for reauthorization, and to inform the policy discussion among the states and at the federal level, especially by drawing lessons from research on the effects of welfare reform. In the book, a diverse set of welfare experts—liberal and conservative, academic and nonacademic—engage in rigorous debate on topics ranging from work experience programs, to job availability, to child well-being, to family formation. In order to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of research on welfare reform, the contributors cover subjects including work and wages, effects of reform on family income and poverty, the politics of conservative welfare reform, sanctions and time limits, financial work incentives for low-wage earners, the use of medicaid and food stamps, welfare-to-work, child support, child care, and welfare reform and immigration. Preparation of the volume was supported by funds from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Welfare, the Family, and Reproductive Behavior

Welfare, the Family, and Reproductive Behavior
Author: National Research Council and Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 34
Release: 1998-01-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309060257

The design of welfare programs in an era of reform and devolution to the states must take into account the likely effects of programs on demographic behavior. In the past, most research on welfare has examined labor market issues, although there have also been some important evaluations of the effects of Aid to Families with Dependent Children on out-of-wedlock childbearing. Much less information is available on other issues equally central to the debate, including effects on abortion decisions, marriage and divorce, intrafamily relations, household formation, and living arrangements. This book of papers contains reviews and syntheses of existing evidence bearing on the demographic impacts of welfare and ideas for how to evaluate new state-level reforms.

Welfare Reform and Beyond

Welfare Reform and Beyond
Author: Isabel V. Sawhill
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2002
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

The Brookings Institution's Welfare Reform & Beyond Initiative was created to inform the critical policy debates surrounding the upcoming congressional reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and a number of related programs that were created or dramatically altered by the 1996 landmark welfare reform legislation. The goal of the project has been to take the large volume of existing and forthcoming research studies and shape them into a more coherent and policy-oriented whole. This capstone collection gathers twenty brief essays (published between January 2001 and February 2002) that focus on assessing the record of welfare reform, specific issues likely to be debated before the TANF reauthorization, and a broader set of policy options for low-income families. It is a reader-friendly volume that will provide policymakers, the press, and the interested public with a comprehensive guide to the numerous issues that must be addressed as Congress considers the future of the nation's antipoverty policies. The collection covers the following topics and features a new introduction from the editors: - An Overview of Effects to Date - Welfare Reform Reauthorization: An Overview of Problems and Issues - A Tax Proposal for Working Families with Children - Welfare Reform and Poverty - Reducing Non-Marital Births - Which Welfare Reforms are Best for Children? - Welfare and the Economy - What Can Be Done to Reduce Teen Pregnancy and Out-of-Wedlock Births? - Changing Welfare Offices - State Programs - Welfare Reform and Employment - Fragile Families, Welfare Reform, and Marriage - Health Insurance, Welfare, and Work - Helping the Hard-to-Employ - Sanctions and Welfare Reform - Child Care and Welfare Reform - Job Retention and Advancement in Welfare Reform - Housing and Welfare Reform - Non-Citizens - Block Grant Structure - Food Stamps - Work Support System - Possible Welfare Reform in the Cities

Families, Poverty, and Welfare Reform

Families, Poverty, and Welfare Reform
Author: Lawrence B. Joseph
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 380
Release: 1999
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780962675553

This volume combines essays by public policy scholars with comments by social project directors who speak from their experiences in the field. Essays include critical assessments of policies to reduce dependency on welfare and a discussion of the effects of poverty on women and children, as well as a look at welfare reform in Illinois.

The Impact of Welfare Reform

The Impact of Welfare Reform
Author: Christopher R. Larrison
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2013-02-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1136444599

Get a balanced, comprehensive analysis of the effects from 1996 welfare reform The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 was aimed at repairing the welfare system of the United States. The Impact of Welfare Reform: Balancing Safety Nets and Behavior Modification comprehensively examines how this bill transformed the system and affected not only clients but also the organizations that implemented the reform. This text moves beyond traditional analyses of welfare reform to reveal a full range of viewpoints and issues while avoiding mere political rhetoric. Leading authorities present knowledgeable perspectives on the clients and their problems, the implementing organizations, the struggles to comply with the requirements, and the issues that remain unresolved. The Impact of Welfare Reform presents revealing interviews with clients, organizational employees, and caseworkers. In-depth discussion topics include the value of emotional well-being on job status, the effects that the new time limit requirements have on clients, ways to facilitate the welfare-to-work transition for women with mental health issues, changes in the work environment of service-providing organizations, and the client’s own experiences within and outside of the system. Qualitative and quantitative methods of study are used to effectively evaluate welfare reform while providing a direction for further research in the future. The text is extensively referenced and uses tables, charts, and figures to clearly illustrate data. This book will bring you up to date on: the impact of alcohol, drugs, and psychological well-being on successfully finding employment the impact of welfare reform on children and adolescents innovations by state welfare offices community and alternative interventions that help those on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to comply with work requirements and time limits the perceptions of caseworkers who implement TANF and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) The Impact of Welfare Reform is enlightening reading for social workers, educators, graduate students, and public policy professionals.