A study examined time limits from the perspectives of welfare recipients and line staff in welfare agencies. Data on time-limited welfare were drawn from staff surveys and from group and individual interviews with both staff and recipients in selected locations in Florida, Vermont, and Wisconsin during the first half of 1996. Findings indicated most recipients valued self-sufficiency and wanted to work. They identified such barriers to employment as the need for support services, low wages of available jobs, lack of skills, and family or personal problems. For the most part, both staff and recipients supported the concept of a time limit on welfare receipt. Many recipients expressed concern, however, that a fixed time limit was too rigid to account for individual circumstances and would end up hurting some families. Contrary to perceptions of some staff, recipients were generally aware of the time limits and believed they were real. Recipients did not raise the subject of time limits on their own but, when asked, rated their anxiety as high. To varying degrees, staff in all three states felt that the time limit had helped to create a sense of urgency and to change the focus and content of their jobs. Most recipients said that the time limit did not play a central role in shaping their actions. Recipients tended to view the time limit as a one-time deadline for leaving welfare. (An appendix describes background, methodology, and participant characteristics.) (YLB)