Premium
Creating a New Welfare Reality: Early Implementation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program
Author(s) -
Pavetti LaDonna A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/0022-4537.00187
Subject(s) - welfare , work (physics) , cash , promotion (chess) , aid to families with dependent children , welfare reform , public assistance , business , welfare system , labour economics , economics , political science , finance , law , engineering , mechanical engineering , politics
This article describes the new welfare reality that has emerged since the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The author focuses on four key dimensions of this new system: conditional availability of cash assistance, the promotion of rapid entry into the labor market, an increased emphasis on the provision of work supports, and limited expansion of services for nonworking Temporary Assistance for Needy Family (TANF) recipients. Stringent work mandates reinforced with tough financial penalties for noncompliance and limits on the number of months families can receive assistance have created a cash assistance system that requires significantly more of families than the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Although it is true that more is expected of families, many states have also substantially increased the support provided to families as they make the transition to paid employment.