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Introduction to Family Studies

Welfare Reform

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Families & Poverty

The percentage living below poverty has changed little over the past 20 years

1969 13.71979 12.41989 13.11998 12.72001 11.72003 12.42004 12.72005 12.62010 14.3

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Family Policy Debates

Ending welfare was not an issue until the 1970s as: Divorce rate doubled Women working outside the home

(60% of married women with children under 6 by 1980)

Single parent families 11% of white children and 50+ % of black

were born to unmarried women by 1980

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What Caused Sweeping Reform?

Attitudes towards women’s roles Acceptable for women to work Since other mothers were out working,

those on welfare should be too Characteristics of recipients

Not widowed, but rather, single mothers

Divorced or never married Deserving vs. undeserving poor

Hand-up vs. hand-out Racial composition had changed

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Race and Ethnicity of Parents Receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families 2002

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/annualreport6/chapter10/10figbdata.htm

American Indian/Alaskan

Native, 1.6

White, 31.6

Hispanic, 24.9

African American,

38.3

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Welfare Reform

In 1996 the Clinton administration enacted the most sweeping reform in the welfare system in the U.S.

Clinton vows “to end welfare as we know it”

Did this happen? YES!

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Families & Poverty Welfare Reform is instituted to

combat these problems What are the major objectives of

the 1996 Welfare Reform Bill? Enact strong work requirements Introduce time limits on assistance Reduce welfare dependency Encourage two-parent families & parental

responsibility

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Families & Poverty Welfare Reform is instituted to

combat these problems What are the major changes of the

1996 Welfare Reform Bill? Make work pay: extends child care

and/or Medicaid benefits (health insurance for the poor) to families after they leave the welfare rolls

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Families & Poverty Major changes of the 1996 Welfare

Reform Bill? Make it TEMPORARY:

AFDC: Aid to Families with Dependent Children changes to TANF: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families

Devolution – transfer of power from the Federal government to states in the form of Block Grants

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Families & Poverty Major changes of the 1996 Welfare

Reform Bill? Enact Mandatory Work Requirement & Time

Limits Move from welfare to work:

1) Recipients must secure employment within two years or lose benefits

2) Five year lifetime limit

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Families & Poverty Major changes of 1996 Welfare Reform Bill Encourage Parental Responsibility

Greater enforcement of child support Incentives to encourage teen parents to

regularly attend and graduate from high school Higher minimum cutoffs for two-parent families So if you get married, you don’t automatically

lose your cach benefits No additional funds for children born after 1997

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CHANGE IN TANF CASELOADS:

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How do we measure the success of welfare reform?

A clear outcome of welfare reform has been the decline in the welfare caseloads in every state

National caseload declined 56 percent from peak in 1996 to 2001

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/news/stats/afdc.htm http://www.acf.hhs.gov/opa/spotlight/welfarereauthorized.htm

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How do we measure the success of welfare reform?

TANF is finally reauthorized in 2005

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said:

"Welfare reform is helping millions of people climb out of poverty. Now, we want to go the next step and help them climb the job ladder by creating more opportunities for education and job training.“

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/opa/spotlight/welfarereauthorized.htm http://www.dhhs.gov/news/press/2006pres/20060208.html

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How do we measure the success of welfare reform?

But how are the families doing that left welfare?

This is only a good sign if their income has not seriously declined and if they are moving toward self-sufficiency

We also must consider their post welfare: Income Employment Poverty status

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How do we measure the success of welfare reform?

National Studies have found that 60 percent of mothers who left welfare are employed and 75 have been employed some of the time since they left welfare

In addition, research shows that the number of single mothers who are working has increased by 25 percent since 1993

Even more impressive is 50 percent increase in NEVER-MARRIED mothers (those who tend to have the lowest education and longest spells on welfare) who are employed

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How do we measure the success of welfare reform?

Another major issue is poverty status:

Are those leaving welfare better off? Overall the rate of child poverty and black child

poverty decreased during the late 1990s However, this decrease has slowed in past few

years The child poverty rate remained steady at 17.6%

from 2004 to 2005

http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p60-231.pdf

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Effects on Income

In terms of income – welfare to work is no guarantee that mothers will be able to lift their families out of poverty

Most mothers leaving welfare receive low wages, on average $6.75 an hour.

And these jobs have no health benefits – thus many remain on Medicaid

The economic downturn and welfare

Of the 12 states where unemployment increased the most:

8 of those states had welfare rolls that held steady or declined.

In sum, the economic downturn has not led to more people on welfare

Source: NY Times, 02/08/09

http://www.cbpp.org/research/index.cfm?fa=topic&id=42

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Welfare Reform Is welfare Reform a success? How do we measure success ? If we want to lower the welfare rolls (# of

caseloads), then welfare reform is a success If we want to have more self-sufficiency

among the poor and less reliance on the state – we have not achieved this since many women are still receiving federally subsidized health care and child care benefits