The Perceptions of Welfare Reform by Michigan Families Whose Children Have Disabilities and Welfare Caseworkers

Abstract

This article examines family and caseworker perceptions of welfare reform and services as they relate to families who have a child with a disability. Interviews were conducted with 39 families and 77 caseworkers. Family questions addressed their perceptions of the welfare system, factors impacting their self-sufficiency, and their perceptions of needed program changes. Caseworker questions addressed their perceptions of welfare practices and policies and their education needs related to serving families who have children with disabilities. Familial perceptions of the welfare system were validated by caseworker reports. Implications for service improvement are discussed.     

Unintended Consequences: The Impact of Welfare Reform in the United States on NGOs

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 dramatically transformed the structure and goals of the public welfare system in the United States. The vast body of research and evaluation generated by the 1996 welfare reforms largely overlooked nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) despite their substantial historical and contemporary involvement in the delivery of social services to low-income populations. Therefore, this paper presents a unique assessment of PRWORA's implications based on the perspective of 90 social service NGOs operating in the Detroit metropolitan area. Examination of their services, staffing, budgets, and clients reveals many changes experienced by NGOs between 1996 and 2000 related to the welfare reforms. Overall, the findings suggest an increased role for social service NGOs in the public welfare system as well as concerns regarding their capacity to adequately fulfill this growing responsibility in the future.     

Welfare reform's ineligible immigrant parents: Program reach and enrollment barriers

Since the implementation of the 1996 welfare reform act, the child-only Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseload has increased dramatically. Perhaps the least understood child-only population is that of ineligible immigrant parents (IIPs), who are ineligible for TANF because of their citizenship or immigration status. Using data collected through in-depth interviews and focus groups in Stanislaus County, California, this study examines how well California's TANF program serves this at-risk group. We analyze the factors that lead IIPs to seek aid for their children, the enrollment obstacles they face, and TANF's ability to meet their needs. Our results demonstrate that immigration-related fears as well as concerns about caseworkers, stigma, and future government sanctions heighten these parents' reluctance to seek aid. They also create multiple and often population-specific barriers to TANF enrollment. We close with research and policy recommendations for serving this vulnerable population.     

Financial Penalties Under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program: Policy Discourse and Strategies for Reform

Many families did not leave welfare of their own accord but instead were forced off, sanctioned, for failure to conform to new, strict requirements (Bloom & Winstead, 2002). Studies of leavers indicate that many of these leavers are among the families that do not receive needed health insurance, food stamps, and child care assistance for which they remain eligible (Loprest, 2001; Zedlewski & Gruber, 2001). Sanctioned families are less likely to do well after leaving welfare compared to other leavers (Goldberg & Schott, 2000). As part of TANF reauthorization, Congress should prohibit states from sanctioning if they have not met certain requirements: conducted an assessment, made accommodations for people with physical/mental impairments or other barriers, and instituted strong pre-sanction and post-sanction procedures.     

Welfare Reform on American Indian Reservations

Abstract

In this article we document trends in welfare caseloads and some initial experiences of service providers and welfare recipients on reservations within Arizona under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). We document the issues and concerns of state and tribal service providers as they implement the legislation on reservations that are often geographically isolated and which lack infrastructure, jobs, childcare and transportation. We also record experiences of women with children on reservations with the 1996 federal welfare legislation. These families experience similar barriers when trying to move from welfare to work as do their counterparts across the country; however, these barriers are magnified on reservations. The welfare recipients' barriers include: a shortage of employment opportunities on reservations; a lack of transportation and childcare facilities; low levels of education and job experience; and, individual and family problems. Poor families in Indian communities face additional barriers to employment because of their geographic isolation, lack of access to basic necessities (like telephones), as well as stereotypes and discrimination by employers due to ethnicity or personal/family histories.     

Welfare Reform

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) on a growing constituency that may require welfare assistance: grandparents raising grandchildren. A brief review of the demographics of grandparent caregivers is followed by an exploration of welfare reform legislation, including work requirements and the Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI). The importance of state-level policies in assisting grandparent-headed households, particularly health care, school enrollment, and housing policies, are also discussed. The paper concludes by offering implications for welfare policies in terms of their impact on intergenerational households headed by grandparents.     

Familial and Social Dimensions of Welfare Receipt

Abstract

In this study we categorize welfare duration determinants into those associated with family traits and the social macro environment outside the family. Monthly AFDC-Basic data for Texas from mid-1989 through April 1993 are analyzed using an event history analysis to examine the length of time families receive AFDC benefits and to estimate the effects of the two latent traits that influence the pace of quitting welfare. Results suggest a need for reformulating welfare policies to address the disadvantages stemming from the social structural context of poverty such as urban residence and race membership.     

Post-Welfare Reform, Low-Income Families and the Dissolution of the Safety Net

There has been a great deal of discussion around the fact that lifting individuals and families out of poverty was not a goal of the 1996 welfare reform legislation. The implementation of welfare reform since 1996 has demonstrated the consequences of caseload reduction as a primary goal. This paper addresses the hardships that can result when lifting people out of poverty is not addressed.     

Minimizing Vulnerability: Selective Interdependencies After Welfare Reform

The issue of dependency permeates the American welfare discourse. Although most of the 50 low-income women we interviewed in our research echoed the distain of dependency found in the broader welfare discourse, they overwhelmingly described actively cultivating some forms of interdependence. For example, many of the women used state childcare vouchers to channel resources into their family networks while simultaneously adhering to an ethic of family care for children. They found this reliance on state resources and family to be desirable—and in fact a sign of “independence”—because it enhanced the economic security of their families while preserving the physical and emotional safety of their children. In contrast, the women tended to view reliance on men as undesirable—a form of “dependence”—because it did not enhance their perceptions of security. Thus while the women talked about becoming independent, in fact they cultivated selective interdependencies to minimize their economic, emotional and physical vulnerability. Independence for our respondents was not a lack of reliance on others but rather the ability to provide safety and security for themselves and their children. Our analysis may sheds some light on why welfare reform efforts aimed at increasing marriage rates have been less successful than those aimed at increasing employment rates.     

Welfare and Welfare to Work in the United States

Summary

Despite social work's historic ambivalence toward income support programs, the policy changes introduced by the TANF welfare to work program demand the profession's attention. Although social workers are not directly responsible for the administration or implementation of the program, many serve TANF clients whose lives have been affected by these changes. Tracing social work's historic but reluctant involvement with income support, this paper urges the profession to respond to the challenges posed by the TANF program in a more systematic way and to contribute more effectively to the wider task of poverty eradication.     

Views from the Frontline

Abstract

Through in-depth interviews, Kentucky welfare case managers compare their experiences working under Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) with their experiences working under Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Interviewees unanimously agreed that TANF is more ambiguous, complex, and stressful than AFDC, both for clients and managers. Although case managers embrace the self-sufficiency goals of TANF, the strict work requirements, overwhelming paperwork and limited education and training opportunities create conflicting goals and barriers that frustrate case managers, leading to suggestions of a return to some rules of AFDC while retaining the TANF goal of independence from the welfare system.     

Effects of Welfare Participation on Marriage

We investigate the widely held premise that welfare participation causes women to refrain from marriage. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study (N = 3,219), we employ an event history approach to study transitions to marriage among mothers who have had a non-marital birth. We find that welfare participation reduces the likelihood of transitioning to marriage (hazard ratio is .67, p < .01), but only while the mother is receiving benefits. Once the mother leaves welfare, past receipt has little effect on marriage. We infer that the negative association between welfare participation and subsequent marriage reflects temporary economic disincentives rather than an erosion of values.     

Welfare,Intergenerational Cohabitation Penalties,and Single Mothers’ Employment

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 changed welfare programs by increasing state income maintenance programs emphasis on employment. Following reform, several states paid reduced welfare benefits to single mothers who resided in their parents homes, compared to those single mothers who lived independently. This paper evaluates whether the benefit reductions lower the probability of intergenerational cohabitation or the employment of single mothers recognizing that family support might facilitate single mothers labor market attachment. The results suggest that family cohabitation penalties reduce the likelihood single mothers live in their parents households and work. Despite several empirical limitations, the results offer evidence that intergenerational living arrangements positively influence employment.*The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Federal Reserve Board or its staff. Thanks to the Urban Institute and staff, in particular Gretchen Rowe for discussing policy collection and information. Beneficial comments have come from the editor, Shoshana Grossbard, two referees, Donna Gilleskie, David Guilkey, William Grant, Carolyn Heinrich, Thomas Mroz, and Wilbert van der Klaauw.     

Teen Mothers and Welfare Reform: Challenging the Boundaries of Risk

A major component of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) included policies directed to encouraging marriage while discouraging nonmarital births. Teen mothers were of particular concern as policymakers argued that there is a link between teenage childbearing and welfare receipt. This paper seeks to reframe the concept of at-risk teen mothers by looking to the socially construction of boundaries—an imagery that brings to the forefront the complex relations between young mothers and welfare reform policy. From this standpoint, we discuss how welfare reform might address the multiple issues facing teen mothers including housing, education and training, child care, transportation, health, healthy relationships and parenting skills.     

Meeting Family Housing Needs: Experiences of Rural Women in the Midst of Welfare Reform

Though sometimes overlooked, the availability, affordability, and quality of housing in rural communities are a potential barrier to transitioning from welfare to work. In this investigation we examine housing issues confronting 17 rural women and their families who were recipients of welfare benefits in 1997. Respondents' housing accounts illustrate the significance of reliance on both government housing subsidies and informal subsidies supplied by friends, family, and more distant relatives. The study focuses on concerns women have in meeting their families shelter needs and the complexities involved in doing so. The findings of the research suggest that additional housing policy initiatives, as well as a targeted research agenda are needed, especially for families whose welfare benefits are nearing termination.     

Childhood Abuse and Welfare Use

Policies aimed at reducing welfare use focus solely on adults, yet welfare users very often report experiences of childhood abuse. Such abuse is known to have long-term psychological effects and may set the stage for later welfare use. This study uses a random sample of poor women to determine how a history of childhood abuse relates to the probability of receiving cash and in-kind assistance over a five-year period. It also investigate whether childhood abuse correlates with the length of receipt among program users. Women experiencing both physical and sexual abuse during childhood were 16–25 percentage points more likely than others to use both cash and in-kind programs as adults. Conditional on program use, there was no relation of childhood abuse to the extent of program use during the study period.     

Open Road or Blind Alley? Welfare Reform, Mothers, and Children with Disabilities

Welfare reform was examined for 39 Michigan families whose children have significant health or intellectual and behavioral disabilities. As a group, these families received little specialized assistance or services to address their unique needs. Family-cited barriers to self-sufficiency included poorly trained welfare caseworkers, limited public transportation, and inadequate child care. Having an older child was the only discriminating variable between working and non-working mothers. However, working mothers only had temporary positions with no benefits and low pay. All families, whether employed or not, lived below the poverty line.     

De‐Romanticizing Black Intergenerational Support: The Questionable Expectations of Welfare Reform

Past research suggests that despite the substantial strengths of Black kin networks, they are not always up to the task of supporting young mothers. This study is an analysis of potential barriers to women‐centered kin support for present‐day urban Black teen mothers and possible implications for kin support mandates specified in the 1996 federal welfare reforms. In‐depth interviews with African American midlife women, who themselves were teen mothers, shed light on their attitudes and perceptions about Black kinship systems and teen childbearing. Study results suggest that these women perceive governmental intervention, age‐condensation among urban Black families, and urban “underclass” culture to have undermined traditional Black intergenerational support.     

Welfare Reform and Teenage Pregnancy,Childbirth, and School Dropout

This study estimates the effect of welfare reform on adolescent behaviors using a difference‐in‐differences approach. After defining the prereform and reform cohorts and considering the life course development of adolescent behavior by following each cohort from age 14 to age 16, we compare the welfare‐target and nontarget populations in the two cohorts. The difference‐in‐differences estimates are obtained using an event history model. Our analysis suggests that welfare reform has not reduced teenage fertility and school dropout. We find modest evidence that welfare reform is associated with higher risk of teenage births for girls in welfare families and higher risk of school dropout for girls in poor families. A combination of a difference‐in‐differences approach and a life course perspective can be a useful way to delineate the effect of societal‐level change on family phenomena.