This study examined public attitudes toward the most vulnerable of the poor--those who experience significant personal or situational problems that can create obstacles to employment. Using both a factorial survey methodology and a general attitude survey, researchers gathered information about public opinion toward people in need, low-income…

A study of women who went off welfare between 1997 and 1998 (n=753, 693) showed that those with the most work involvement over the year had higher levels of financial and subjective well-being. Regardless of work involvement, substantial numbers reported serious economic difficulties and financial strain. Many still needed income supplements and…

Suggests that poor U.S. women and children are marked by signs of discipline and punishment that cannot be erased. These are systematically produced through current forces of socialization and discipline and 18th-century exhibitions of public mutilation. Poor single welfare mothers and their children are physically inscribed, punished, and…

Only in the last few years have researchers begun to pay close attention to the child-only cases that fall under the provision of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. Few attempts have been made to talk directly to kinship caregivers to understand their day-to-day lives. This triangulated study utilizes multiple strategies to…

Poverty remains a persistent problem for many women, and certain features of American life serve to keep them in a disadvantaged economic position. The welfare system is so arranged that many of its programs (such as the Work Incentive Program) favor men or (as in the case of Aid to Families with Dependent Children) force poor women to place their…

The working poor are employable people who have found low-paying jobs and barely scrape out a living. By removing many forms of federal aid, the Reagan administration has locked the working poor into poverty. In saving a few dollars today, we are penalizing the next generation. (CS)

This report examines the impact of the 1996 Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) on the college enrollment of welfare recipients who completed high school. The report highlights the lower college enrollment rates among recipients in the post-Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) period and notes the impact…

Discusses the research on young, unmarried fathers, and emphasizes the need to understand more about the phenomenon of out-of-wedlock childbearing and the relationship of this phenomenon to poverty and welfare recipiency. (PCB)

Uses a systems approach to reframe welfare assistance as well-being for the many, not welfare for the few. The framework outlines the state of family economic functioning (crisis, at risk, safe, thriving), type of welfare assistance (entitlement, subsidy, self-sufficiency, sustainability), poverty levels (below, at, 150%, 200%), and supports…

This study builds on research that examines the effects of microenterprise on poor women in the United States. Household income, income from the business, and poverty status were examined over time and comparisons were drawn among three groups of women: low-income women who participated in one of seven U.S. microenterprise assistance programs;…

Many issues remain unresolved when considering whether the welfare system perpetuates the poverty of its recipients. The debate often focuses on Blacks. No one considers factors such as the self-defined needs of the target population. Cuts in payment programs may be of some value but are not a panacea. (VM)

U.S.-born children of immigrants may be less likely to receive some social services than are children of native-born immigrants, if foreign-born parents who are themselves ineligible are less likely to apply on their children's behalf. Researchers used retrospective data from a sample of about 2,400 low-income, predominantly Hispanic households in…

In May 2000, a conference on the rural dimensions of welfare reform and food assistance policy brought together researchers, welfare policy experts, and rural scholars. This issue brief summarizes some major findings of the conference and suggests future policy options to better address the differing needs of rural and urban families. Between 1994…

This report uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (a nationwide survey that collects data on married and non-married parents at the time of the child's birth) to determine how much marriage could reduce poverty among couples who are not married at the time of birth. To determine the impact of marriage on children's and…

This report provides interim findings from a study of families leaving welfare in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The study is designed to monitor the status of families leaving cash assistance at multiple times and to compare the experiences of exit cohorts drawn at quarterly intervals throughout the process of welfare reform implementation. The report…