This report helps state and local decision makers understand the range of services ordinarily needed and provided in alcohol and drug treatment programs serving women and families receiving welfare and how those services support the goals of welfare reform. The model programs profiled here tend to the needs of women on welfare and their families…

Training Opportunities in the Private Sector (TOPS) was a small-scale, voluntary program operated as one among many employment-related options available to recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children in Maine's Work Incentive (WIN) Program. TOPS was distinguished from Maine's other WIN demonstration activities by three program elements.…

Children are among the poorest of Maine's residents. Nearly 1 in 5 children under the age of 18, 19.3%, lived in families below the federal poverty line in the early 1990s. Most of these poor children lived in working families. The working poor are often missing from policy debates, but their numbers are likely to increase with welfare reform…

This Kids Count Report details statewide trends in the well-being of Maine's children, with particular focus on child health care access. The statistical portrait is based on a variety of indicators in five areas: (1) child health care access; (2) physical and mental health; (3) community and family environment; (4) social and economic…

This KIDS COUNT Report details statewide trends in the well-being of Maine's children. The statistical portrait is based on a variety of indicators in the areas of: (1) physical and mental health; (2) social and economic opportunity; (3) education and learning; and (4) child health care access. The report contains a special section on Maine…

This document examines screening and assessment for physical and mental health conditions that impact Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients' ability to work. The document begins by defining screening and assessment and discussing their relevance for agencies serving TANF recipients. The next section answers policy questions…

A committee examined the number, type, and quality of work and training opportunities available for heads of households under Maine's Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Program and suggested ways to improve them. Comprised of such representatives of the private and public sectors as employers, AFDC recipients, welfare advocates,…

Maine's Parents as Scholars (PaS) program provides parents who are eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) with cash assistance and support services while they attend a two-year or four-year postsecondary degree program. PaS participants receive the same cash benefits and access to support services as TANF recipients receive.…

This Kids Count data book details statewide trends in the well-being of Maine's children. The statistical portrait is based on indicators in the areas of physical and mental health, including insurance enrollment, adolescent health and safety, and child welfare; social and economic status, including poverty, unemployment, and teen pregnancies; and…

This KIDS COUNT data book details statewide trends in the well-being of Maine's children. Following a brief overview of the data book and a summary of indicators, state trend data are presented in the areas of: (1) poverty; (2) child and adolescent suicide; (3) public high school dropouts; (4) teen pregnancy; (5) public high school graduates…

This KIDS COUNT data book details statewide trends in the well-being of Maine's children. The statistical portrait is based on a variety of indicators in the areas of: (1) physical and mental health; (2) social and economic opportunity; (3) education and learning; and (4) child health care access. The data book presents state level trend data, a…

This newsletter reports on the activities of Equipped for the Future (EFF), which is a National Institute for Literacy initiative. EFF helps Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients build the skills needed to balance work and home and make a successful transition to work. The article "EFF Frames Family Literacy Programs"…

Five years after the massive overhaul of the nation's welfare system, 21 Maine families receiving public assistance spoke about their lives during welfare reform. The following were among the key themes that emerged throughout the conversations: (1) those leaving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) often remain poor or very nearly poor;…