Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition

Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2001-08-10

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 0309171342

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Reform of welfare is one of the nation's most contentious issues, with debate often driven more by politics than by facts and careful analysis. Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition identifies the key policy questions for measuring whether our changing social welfare programs are working, reviews the available studies and research, and recommends the most effective ways to answer those questions. This book discusses the development of welfare policy, including the landmark 1996 federal law that devolved most of the responsibility for welfare policies and their implementation to the states. A thorough analysis of the available research leads to the identification of gaps in what is currently known about the effects of welfare reform. Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition specifies what-and why-we need to know about the response of individual states to the federal overhaul of welfare and the effects of the many changes in the nation's welfare laws, policies, and practices. With a clear approach to a variety of issues, Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition will be important to policy makers, welfare administrators, researchers, journalists, and advocates on all sides of the issue.


Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition

Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition

Author: Panel on Data and Methods for Measuring the Effects of Changes in Social Welfare Programs

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2001-08-24

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780309072748

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Reform of welfare is one of the nation's most contentious issues, with debate often driven more by politics than by facts and careful analysis. Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition identifies the key policy questions for measuring whether our changing social welfare programs are working, reviews the available studies and research, and recommends the most effective ways to answer those questions. This book discusses the development of welfare policy, including the landmark 1996 federal law that devolved most of the responsibility for welfare policies and their implementation to the states. A thorough analysis of the available research leads to the identification of gaps in what is currently known about the effects of welfare reform. Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition specifies what-and why-we need to know about the response of individual states to the federal overhaul of welfare and the effects of the many changes in the nation's welfare laws, policies, and practices. With a clear approach to a variety of issues, Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition will be important to policy makers, welfare administrators, researchers, journalists, and advocates on all sides of the issue.


The Transition from Welfare to Work

The Transition from Welfare to Work

Author: Sharon Telleen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-11

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1135423296

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How well do you understand the sweeping welfare reforms of the mid-1990s? The Transition from Welfare to Work: Processes, Challenges, and Outcomes provides a comprehensive examination of the welfare-to-work initiatives that were undertaken just prior to and following the major reform of United States welfare legislation in 1996. It will familiarize you with the intent of those reforms and show you how those interventions have been implemented. It also explores the barriers to employment that must be overcome by welfare-to-work clients, and the impact of these changes on clients, employers, and society. From the editors: “Although the numbers enrolled in welfare programs dropped dramatically in the last few years of the economic expansion of the 1990s, until recently we have known very little about the conditions of families affected by welfare-to-work policies. How did welfare-to-work interventions change the lives of participants and their families? What factors helped or hindered the transition to paid work? Are welfare-to-work policies likely to have actually improved the earnings or income of former AFDC recipients? This book studies all these questions.” The Transition from Welfare to Work: Processes, Challenges, and Outcomes presents qualitative, quantitative, and econometric analyses as well as panel studies, longitudinal, and quasi-experimental designs. Beginning with a brief description of the goals and structure of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, this book examines all of the phases of the welfare-to-work process. Use it to increase your understanding of: the implementation of interventions designed to place TANF recipients in jobs the factors that impact the readiness of low-income women to enter the job market the outcomes of current and earlier welfare-to-work interventions the steps we need to take to know how these citizens are faring in the welfare-to-work environment and more!


The Impact of Welfare Reform

The Impact of Welfare Reform

Author: Christopher R. Larrison

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-02-01

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1136444599

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Get a balanced, comprehensive analysis of the effects from 1996 welfare reform The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 was aimed at repairing the welfare system of the United States. The Impact of Welfare Reform: Balancing Safety Nets and Behavior Modification comprehensively examines how this bill transformed the system and affected not only clients but also the organizations that implemented the reform. This text moves beyond traditional analyses of welfare reform to reveal a full range of viewpoints and issues while avoiding mere political rhetoric. Leading authorities present knowledgeable perspectives on the clients and their problems, the implementing organizations, the struggles to comply with the requirements, and the issues that remain unresolved. The Impact of Welfare Reform presents revealing interviews with clients, organizational employees, and caseworkers. In-depth discussion topics include the value of emotional well-being on job status, the effects that the new time limit requirements have on clients, ways to facilitate the welfare-to-work transition for women with mental health issues, changes in the work environment of service-providing organizations, and the client’s own experiences within and outside of the system. Qualitative and quantitative methods of study are used to effectively evaluate welfare reform while providing a direction for further research in the future. The text is extensively referenced and uses tables, charts, and figures to clearly illustrate data. This book will bring you up to date on: the impact of alcohol, drugs, and psychological well-being on successfully finding employment the impact of welfare reform on children and adolescents innovations by state welfare offices community and alternative interventions that help those on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to comply with work requirements and time limits the perceptions of caseworkers who implement TANF and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) The Impact of Welfare Reform is enlightening reading for social workers, educators, graduate students, and public policy professionals.


Welfare Reform

Welfare Reform

Author: David P. Bixler

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 1997-04

Total Pages: 61

ISBN-13: 0788147587

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Reviews the experiences of three states -- Massachusetts, Michigan, and Utah -- under waivers with increasing the proportion of welfare recipients participating in work and work related activities intended to move them toward self-sufficiency. It examines the policies and programs these states initiated to increase participation in such activities, determines the participation rates these states have achieved under their programs, and assesses whether these states are likely to meet the work participation rates specified in the new welfare law. Charts and tables. Bibliography.


Welfare Reform

Welfare Reform

Author: David D. Bellis

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2001-09

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 9780756713713

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As the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant has been implemented by the states, the Congress has asked questions about a broad range of issues concerning welfare reform's consequences. This report examines: (1) the type of data that will be available from national surveys and studies of welfare reform to help assess progress towards TANF's goals, and (2) the usefulness of the data for assessing TANF's progress nationwide. The major objective was to examine data already collected by national surveys of low-income families and for major studies of welfare reform to identify data available for use in a comprehensive assessment of TANF for the reauth. debate. Ill.


For Better and For Worse

For Better and For Worse

Author: Greg J. Duncan

Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation

Published: 2002-01-17

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1610448286

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The 1996 welfare reform bill marked the beginning of a new era in public assistance. Although the new law has reduced welfare rolls, falling caseloads do not necessarily mean a better standard of living for families. In For Better and For Worse, editors Greg J. Duncan and P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale and a roster of distinguished experts examine the evidence and evaluate whether welfare reform has met one of its chief goals-improving the well-being of the nation's poor children. For Better and For Worse opens with a lively political history of the welfare reform legislation, which demonstrates how conservative politicians capitalize on public concern over such social problems as single parenthood to win support for the radical reforms. Part I reviews how individual states redesigned, implemented, and are managing their welfare systems. These chapters show that most states appear to view maternal employment, rather that income enhancement and marriage, as key to improving child well-being. Part II focuses on national and multistate evaluations of the changes in welfare to examine how families and children are actually faring under the new system. These chapters suggest that work-focused reforms have not hurt children, and that reforms that provide financial support for working families can actually enhance children's development. Part III presents a variety of perspectives on policy options for the future. Remarkable here is the common ground for both liberals and conservatives on the need to support work and at the same time strengthen safety-net programs such as Food Stamps. Although welfare reform-along with the Earned Income Tax Credit and the booming economy of the nineties-has helped bring mothers into the labor force and some children out of poverty, the nation still faces daunting challenges in helping single parents become permanent members of the workforce. For Better and For Worse gathers the most recent data on the effects of welfare reform in one timely volume focused on improving the life chances of poor children.


Transitions from Afdc to Ssi Prior to Welfare Reform - Policy Brief

Transitions from Afdc to Ssi Prior to Welfare Reform - Policy Brief

Author: David Wittenburg

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs serve overlapping target groups. SSI serves adults and children with disabilities from low-income families, while TANF serves low-income families with children. Consequently, policy changes in one program can affect the other. The target group for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), TANF's predecessor, also overlapped with SSI's target group. Many have anticipated that the replacement of AFDC with TANF in August 1996 would eventually increase SSI participation as TANF recipients with disabilities sought SSI benefits to avoid TANF work requirements and time limits.