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Copyright ©2011 Pearson Education Inc. All rights reserved.

CHAPTER 7 Fighting Poverty:

Temporary Assistance to Needy FamiliesThe Policy-Based Profession

An Introduction to Social Welfare Policy Analysis

for Social WorkersFifth Edition

Philip R. Popple & Leslie LeighningerSlides by Heather Kanenberg, University of Houston, Clear Lake

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Welfare Reform: Hot Button Issue

• Clinton’s promise to “end welfare as we know it”

• August 22, 1996, H.R. 3734, The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) was signed

• Changed the fundamental structure of public assistance; replaced AFDC with TANF


Welfare Reform: AFDC & TANF

• Consistently, beneficiaries are women and their children

• While other welfare programs were transitioning to federal level regulation; AFDC was run through a federal/state partnership leaving states with significant influence on the program structure

• AFDC & TANF were constructed to serve the poorest of the poor


Welfare Reform: TANF

• Structural oppression built into the program, as society worked to separate programs for the ‘deserving poor’ from those for the ‘undeserving’.

• Systematic separation of programs used by men and whites from those used by women and persons of color

• Stigmatization of role of women as caregiver and mother

• Social Insurance versus Welfare – the institutionalization of oppression


Welfare Reform: AFDC to TANF

• Shifting from the concept of public assistance as a right of citizenship for all who are needy to a program that is temporary and for those who meet the strictest of qualifications

• Presupposes that there are jobs available for all who are looking

• Welfare became “Workfare”


Welfare Reform: Historical Analysis

• Throughout the 19th and early 20th Century the problem of poverty was dealt with through local volunteer organizations and groups

• Outdoor Relief was not popular

• With the turn of the century came social changes: urbanization, industrialization, and immigration – thus social problems intensified



• Child abandonment, widows, poverty, persons with disabilities, the unemployed, etc.

• All influenced the development of welfare programs on the state level (first: Kansas in 1908)

• White House Conference on Children – led to strong support for “Mothers Pensions” across the states



• The Great Depression: Mothers Pensions and state level oversight was not enough

• ADC – Aid to Dependent Children• AFDC – Aid to Families with Dependent

Children– AFDC Architects never envisioned the concept of

unwed mothers as the primary recipients of the program.

• Themes of Deserving and Undeserving still threaded throughout the programs



• Strategies for Reform over the decades:– Social Service Strategies

– Institutional Strategies

– Human Capitol Strategies

– Job Creation & Subsidization Strategies

– Child Support Strategies



• Recent reform attempts: Family Support Act under Regan was an attempt to quiet calls for change; Claims were that it did not do enough to reform welfare

• PRWORA: Dramatic changes to the structure of the program and benefits; thoughts by the Clinton Administration were to sign the bill then immediately begin reforming the problematic areas however, there’s not enough political will to reform the program


Social Analysis: Problem Description

• Two problems at the heart of public assistance:– Child Poverty – solved by providing benefits and

cash to poor children

– Adult Dependency – solved by reducing or eliminating benefits thereby forcing people to support themselves

• How do we resolve the contradiction?


Welfare Reform: Social Analysis

• Population: stereotype of the typical recipient. –What are the characteristics of the typical recipient

in your state?

• Size: assumption that the numbers of recipients is astronomical and growing exponentially. – The reality is that in 2006 only 1.8 percent of the

population was receiving benefits under TANF. – The year 2002 brought the lowest caseloads since

1960.



• Costs: – Expenditures on the part of the federal government

declining

– Benefits to recipients declining: 2003 a family with two children received $365 per months (average)

• Race:– No significant changes between AFDC and TANF

– 64% of recipients are minority group members



• Family Size: Stereotypes of numbers of children versus reality

• Age of Mothers: Average age is 30

• Schooling: nearly half of all TANF recipients never finished High school

• Spells: What does the data really tell us; complex to calculate and interpretations depend upon which data you review



• Time Limits: significant difference between AFDC and TANF– No more than 60 Months

– No more than 2 years at one time

– Some extension possibilities and alternative programs; they rest on the state determination and provision



• Values & Welfare Reform– The US as Land of Opportunity

– Individualism

–Work

– Traditional Nuclear Family

– Sense of Community

• Competing and conflicting values exacerbate the debates over welfare reforms


Welfare Reform: Economic Analysis

• Macroeconomics:– Cost: The federal share of TANF was less than

1% of the 2009 budget. States contributions have declined since 1996. The program is not a significant contributor to deficits at the state or federal level

– TANF spending is not increasing; has actually declined since 1996


Welfare Reform: Economic Analysis

• Microeconomics:– TANF was structured with goal of preventing the

program from being a work disincentive. Therefore the program forces labor market participation

– Program forces recipients reliance on unreported funds to help fill the deficits each month; creates a problem for parents

– Concerns regarding the programs impact on family structure and unwed births


Welfare Reform: Evaluation

• Series of critical questions must be asked of the program to determine its efficacy and efficiency

• What do we want to know? What constitutes success? Differences in responses from politicians versus recipients!


Welfare Reform: Evaluation

• Impact of Reform on Rolls: 60% decrease in recipients between 1996 and 2006; 40% for reasons other than getting a job!

• Wages of those no longer on the rolls

• Upward mobility of recipients & Job permanency

• Impact to the wellbeing of children


Welfare Reform: Conclusion

• National economic recession brings potential problems for TANF (increasing caseloads, demand, and extensions of services, etc.)

• Cycle of social need and programmatic responses to need

• Focus on Poverty and the Social Conditions that lead to the need for public assistance

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