Provides an overview of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) legislation and describes features of state TANF programs that are relevant for appreciating the need for evaluation and interpreting evaluations. Also describes some features of the "culture" of local welfare offices. (Author/SLD)

Explores the implications of the rapid influx of low-income mothers into the work force and the new federal work requirements for the well-being of young children. Reviews data about welfare policy provisions from the 1990s, but notes that such data was generally collected before the influx of low-income mothers into the workforce. (SLD)

Discusses the conditions that promote evaluation and their applicability to the current welfare situation. Outlines a welfare reform evaluation agenda, focusing on core activities and investments in evaluation. The major focus should be finding out what is effective for which individuals. (SLD)

Used data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine the effects of living in public housing as a child at some point between 1968-1982 on four young adult outcomes. Results indicated that having lived in public housing increased employment, raised earnings, and reduced welfare use but had no effect on household earnings relative to the…

Adults with limited financial literacy skills must cope with understanding the interrelationship among wages, social security, and welfare systems. Radical adult education can help them make informed decisions about the financial consequences of moving from welfare to work. (SK)

Describes the Linking Individuals to New Careers (LINC) program at Great Plains Technology Center, part of a state network that moves welfare recipients out of poverty through career and technical education. Discusses LINC workshops on job preparation. (JOW)

Reviews recent court rulings that have upheld the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and examines court decisions in light of two constitutional principles (Equal Protection and Supremacy clauses), which traditionally have been applied to the issue of aliens' eligibility for welfare benefits. Policy changes, designed…

Tested assumptions about welfare dependency and work by waiving a rule allowing primary wage-earners to work more than 100 hours a week without losing welfare eligibility. Results from an impact analysis that considered 3,591 experimental and control families indicate that the rule waiver had no effect on primary wage earners' work activity and…

We address how childcare subsidies help in the welfare-to-work transition relative to other factors. We examine how the policy operates, whether childcare problems differ by subsidy receipt, and the effect of subsidy on work. Data are from a random sample panel study of welfare recipients after 1996. Findings show that subsidy receipt reduces…

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a part of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, changed the philosophical ground and rules and regulations that apply to low-income families with children who seek federal income support. TANF recipients have less flexibility in charting their life courses than…

The issue of providing individual services historically has been a major dilemma for social action, Alinsky-style community organizations. Empirical evidence suggests that most action organizations that moved into service provision lost mass-based participation, militant tactics, and a power-building orientation. The author presents a case study…

We use longitudinal, qualitative interview data collected from 38 initially welfare-reliant women in Cleveland, Ohio to examine the factors driving instability in child-care arrangements when women transitioned from welfare to work. Grounded theory analysis revealed that decisions about care were circumscribed by scarce social and economic…

The promotion of marriage and two-parent families as a strategy to reduce welfare dependency continues to be a major public policy goal of the 1996 welfare reform. Based on the assumption that women will marry employed men and that their earnings will lift poor mothers and their children from public dependency, this objective raises important…

The authors examined the effects of antipoverty programs on children's cumulative poverty-related risk and the relationship between cumulative poverty-related risk and child outcomes among low-income families. Samples included 419 children ages 3-10 years in the New Hope program and 759 children ages 2-9 years in the Minnesota Family …

Data from a longitudinal survey of families from three reservations (Navajo Nation, San Carlos, and Salt River) in Arizona were used to examine their probability of welfare use. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the effects of individual, family, and structural factors on welfare exit. Results indicate that their probability of…