The child support reform provisions within the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) have been markedly successful in improving child support enforcement efforts. Child support is an important part of the mix of supports necessary to assist welfare recipients to make the transition to work and…

This paper discusses the background and character of changes introduced by the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), examining post enactment responses by Congress, the states, and the courts. It explores the impact of the law on benefit use among immigrants, highlighting changes in usage among different…

This fourth annual report addresses the extent to which U.S. families depend on income from welfare programs, providing updated data on measures of welfare recipiency, dependency, and predictors of welfare dependence developed for previous reports. It highlights benefits under Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), now Temporary…

This paper used data from two rounds of the National Survey of America's Families to examine how families on welfare in 1999 differed from those receiving benefits in 1997 (just prior to when most states implemented their new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families [TANF] policies). Results showed some significant changes in the welfare population…

This report examines whether people who left welfare between 1997 and 1999 were more disadvantaged or less job-ready than were an early group who left welfare between 1995 and 1997. The study compared barriers to work and economic outcomes using data from the National Survey of America's Families. Overall, results found little evidence of poorer…

This brief uses data from the first two waves of the National Survey of America's Families to examine how living arrangements for families with children changed between 1997-99. During the late 1990s, welfare reform efforts centered on moving families from welfare to work. Lost in the discussions of declining caseloads and post-welfare employment…

One of a series planned by Child Trends to help inform the public debate surrounding the 2002 reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, this brief updates a statistical snapshot of working poor families with children that Child Trends published 2 years ago. Findings presented in the brief include the…

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) gives states the flexibility to design programs to help low-income families move into employment. However, the law discourages states from allowing welfare recipients to participate in education and training programs. Because the law limits the extent to which education activities count toward federal…

The advent of welfare reform in the United States has provided new challenges in preparing adults to become economically self-sufficient. As one response to this challenge, the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) in Louisville, Kentucky began the Family Independence Initiative in 1997 to promote family literacy as one solution for assisting…

While most American children are not poor, the proportion of children living in poverty has remained at or near 20 percent since the early 1980s. Childhood poverty can have short- and long-term negative consequences for children. Growing up at or near the poverty line can affect the quality of a family's housing, children's access to nutritious…

Under the 1996 federal welfare law, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), an unmarried minor parent with a child generally cannot receive federal welfare assistance unless she is living with her family or in some type of adult-supervised arrangement. Exemptions are available and states have flexibility in designing their policies and…

This paper addresses the potential impact of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) on the incidence of child maltreatment. Potential risks include maltreatment related to poverty, loss of benefits because of sanctions or time limits, and problems finding child care. While the total number of substantiated cases of maltreatment decreased…

This brief is one of a series written to help inform public debate surrounding the 2002 reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. The brief examines the level of depressive symptoms among samples of welfare recipients studied in five experimental evaluations of welfare-to-work programs. The brief notes…

This study examines the status of former welfare recipients in the District of Columbia (DC), highlighting families who left Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in the last quarter of 1997 and of 1998. Researchers used data from the DC Department of Human Services and interviews with people who left in 1998. Between 1997-99, DC's cash…

This publication presents the views expressed by the major speakers at "More Promises to Keep: Sustaining Arizona's Capacity for Welfare and Health Reform," concluding a 3-year study of welfare and health reform in the state. The publication also summarizes the discussions of three special interest sessions. The speakers' op-ed-style…