Assesses the major claims and counterclaims in the debate on the desirability of attaching work-related obligations to the receipt of welfare benefits. Attempts to reach a balanced judgment on whether labor policy should continue moving in that direction. (JOW)

Investigated kin networks, kin network support, and consequences of this support for women's work using data from a national survey of young mothers, both Black and White (n=1,787). Results indicated most young mothers had access to nearby kin, and it was these kin who most often provided child care and income support. (Author/ABL)

Examines a work initiative that moved welfare recipients into jobs as nurse assistants at a geriatric facility. The women's stories describe a welfare-to-work program in practice and illustrate how and why earnest efforts to mediate poverty resulted instead in the continued marginalization and stigmatization of poor people. (RJM)

A British Columbia preemployment program for women on welfare focused on engaging them in identifying their needs and determining content. Brainstorming and popular theatre techniques demonstrated the relevance of learning, helped them discover the extent of their experience and knowledge, engaged them in problem solving and reflection, and…

Examined effects on 4- to 6-year-olds of different patterns of mother involvement in child care, self- sufficiency activities, and other services. Found that children of mothers with high involvement in center-based care, education, and job training showed higher cognitive ability than children of mothers with high involvement in only center-based…

Analyzes recent media accounts of teen mothers, identifying interpretive frames associated with the discourses of bureaucratic experts, conservatives, oppositional movements, and the mothers themselves. The dominant discourse is that of the bureaucratic experts who have incentives to tell their own stigma stories about teen mothers. (SLD)

A community restaurant begun in Montreal by 12 welfare recipients has provided jobs and inexpensive meals and served community interests. It attempts to integrate social and economic development, operating not primarily as a job training program but as a community-based, socially useful business. (SK)

Examined mothers' patterns of welfare receipt in the 3 years following birth of a child. Found strong negative associations between receiving welfare and parenting behavior and child outcomes at age three. Parenting by mothers who had left welfare by their child's third birthday was more likely to be authoritarian if mother had left public…

Presents evidence that policy changes in Delaware with regard to welfare reform did influence marriage and childbearing outcomes using survey data from the state's A Better Chance (ABC) program (n=1,547). After 18 months, the program had positive effects on marital cohabitation, but only a small impact on actual fertility, although it reduced the…

Highlights program strategies to support families as they adjust to changes in welfare policy. Core strategies noted include using early childhood programs as a resource, adapting early childhood programs to better meet family needs, promoting access to high-quality child care, linking early childhood programs and welfare agencies, and creating…

Discussions with 26 Nebraska adult basic education practitioners, 14 survey responses, and interviews with 3 administrators obtained their views of the impact of welfare reform. They have concerns about the emphasis on economic over individual development, the quality of education and training for welfare recipients, time limits on learning, and…

A Michigan study of children's agencies found that very few had any former youth in care either in leadership or board roles. The author, himself a product of the child welfare system, suggests that quality services will require perspectives of these former consumers of care. Exciting new practices have emerged in the field of youth development…

By studying recipients of aid under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare scheme, the effect of time limits of welfare schemes on forward looking recipients is assessed using a discrete-choice dynamic programming framework model. The policy simulations for the preferred specification of utility reveal that two year time limits…

A study of the welfare programs in two counties bordering different states along with comparative welfare expenditure in interior counties tests the theory that Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients migrate to counties which have a higher per capita welfare budget. Research shows that border counties with a $100 differential…

This study estimates the effect of welfare reform on adolescent behaviors using a difference-indifferences approach. After defining the prereform and reform cohorts and considering the life course development of adolescent behavior by following each cohort from age 14 to age 16, we compare the welfare-target and nontarget populations in the two…