Claims that children of color are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system and links this condition to the Flemming Rule implemented during the Eisenhower administration. Suggests that the Flemming Rule, although intended to be constructive, was negatively implemented, leading to long-term serious consequences for African…

Examines the consequences for children of life in families that receive at least part of their income from welfare. Suggests these children appear to complete less schooling, even after adjustment for other differences between recipient and nonrecipient families. Low family income and maternal employment are also found to reduce completed…

The Family Support Act of 1988 is based on the assumption that education, training, work experience, and support are the way to reduce welfare dependence. The Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training program in the act requires participation of many welfare recipients in state job training programs. Comprehensive welfare reform programs in…

The purpose of this paper is to increase awareness and understanding of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) Program. The Academic Senate holds the view that welfare reform that focuses on "work first" tends to push participants into below-subsistence-level jobs and eclipses an emphasis on long-term…

The relationship of literacy to work should be considered in terms of the political and economic conditions that structure the experiences of the working and non-working poor with respect to education and work. Research shows welfare-to-work programs constitute behavioral solutions to what are structural economic problems; literacy alone cannot…

Concluding that Iowa women are suffering more and in greater numbers than before, this report contains testimony from the 1983 public hearings initiated by the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women. Each section contains background information and testimony from women who have had firsthand experience of poverty--such as female…

Notes that many from across the ideological spectrum suggest that welfare reform address policies that promote marriage and two-parent families. Discusses marriage, family structure and economic well-being, the benefits of marriage for adults and children, and low-income unwed mothers and marriage. Suggests that marriage and two-parent families…

This book asserts that public assistance programs--particularly in countries in Western Europe--have been demonstrated to relieve deprivation and ensure an acceptable standard of living for those nations' families. Contrasting the extensive child welfare programs offered by France with those of the United States, this book describes in detail an…

Testimony from a congressional hearing on the dual role women play as wage earners and as mothers is presented. Other focuses of the hearing include what is being done and what needs to be done by the public and private sectors to facilitate the entry of women into a broad range of occupations, including higher paid nontraditional areas.…

The three sections of this document provide: (1) an overview of welfare work requirement policies from 1935 to 1988; (2) a discussion of the education-related provisions included in the Family Support Act of 1988; and (3) a summary of the likely effects of the increasing emphasis on education for welfare recipients. In the first section, the…

Work requirements in welfare reform proposed by the George W. Bush administration would impose much tougher work requirements on welfare recipients. Seventy percent of all adults would be required to work 40 hours per week, versus the 50 percent who are required to work 30 hours per week currently. In addition, states would be given little leeway…

The 1996 welfare reform law--the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act--has contradictory aspects. It gives the states greatly increased fiscal flexibility and at the same time sets extensive and elaborate new behavioral requirements. The dynamics of welfare since the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935 have been…

This book analyzes how welfare reform can improve the lives of children, based on a study of successful programs that provide services to needy children and their families. The study looked at programs that operated in conjunction with the welfare department before the enactment of the Family Support Act and that operated successfully. Chapter 1…

The 1996 welfare reform legislation replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with a new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. This new program has a fixed funding level that is not altered by inflation or economic cycles or caseload size. Individual states' shares are based on the amount they…

This document reports on a congressional hearing on the George W. Bush administration's proposals for welfare reform and legislation to reauthorize the 1996 welfare reform law. Testimony includes statements from United States (US) Representatives John Boehner and Patsy Mink; Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human…