¶ … TANF?
The Congress was exasperated with the AFDC's (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) cost, nature and scope, and thus decided to put an end to it. In 1994, a record number of families (5 million, with over 1/8th of American children) were enrolled in the program. Over 50% of the kids enrolled were born out of wedlock, and around 75% had a physically-fit parent not living with them (Blanche, 1995). Nearly 50% of the enrolled families received program benefits for over 5 years (including repeat spells). In the 1994 financial year, benefit costs reached their peak (22.8 billion dollars, with 12.5 billion dollars from Federal funds and 10.3 billion dollars from local/State funds). Some legislators pressed for curbing AFDC coffers for controlling expenses, while others believed that permanent help offered to the needy kids from single-parent households helped encourage family breakups, allowed births out of wedlock, and promoted long-run dependency.
The traditional AFDC program appeared to trap several welfare recipients in nearly-permanent reliance on governmental support. Welfare reform sought to tackle this issue by instituting time limits for ensuring that governmental welfare doesn't become the way of life for such families. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) established a federal 5-year limit; states, nevertheless, had the authority to shorten time limits further if they desired. An explosion of welfare activities in the form of novel urban programs, healthcare, job training, etc., occurred simultaneously in the 60's with additional AFDC expansions. 4.3 million individuals were receiving AFDC by 1965; the figure rocketed to almost 10 million by 1972. A swift expansion of welfare rolls was seen, despite the era being characterized by low unemployment and general economic progress (Benjamin and Kerry, 2009; Alfred, 2007).
How Important Have These Problems Been Historically?
It has been widely acknowledged that a proper safety net initiative delivers benefits to a greater number of individuals during times of unemployment growth and difficulty in finding work. The term "safety" implies that people are, at the least, partly protected from privation, and sometimes even destitution that accompanies employment and income loss. Federal welfare constituted an open-ended privilege, encouraging long-term reliance. It was widely agreed to be a serious failure, neither contributing to poverty reduction, nor assisting the poor in becoming self-sufficient. Rather, the program fostered births outside marriage and damaged work ethic, prompting these pathologies to endure across generations (Blanche, 1995).
The 1996 welfare reforms were significant; however, the U.S. federal government continues to run numerous detrimental yet expensive welfare programs. Federal government's involvement in initiatives like TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) must be phased out; low-income support programs must be bequeathed to state authorities or private sector agencies. The same amount of diversity and flexibility that private charities provide cannot be delivered by governmental welfare programs. Private welfare agencies understand better that charity, in essence, begins with people bettering their life choices. Federal government's participation in the field has provoked a costly clutter of paperwork, rules and official procedures while hardly contributing to long-term poverty reduction (Benjamin and Kerry, 2009; Alfred, 2007).
How the Problem Was Previously Handled
Prior to 1996, the federal aid represented an open-ended privilege, contributing to long-term dependence; it was agreed by most that the program was an abysmal failure, neither alleviating poverty nor encouraging self-sufficiency in the poor. Work ethic was weakened and there was a rise in number of kids born out of wedlock, and these pathologies endured across generations (Blanche, 1995; Alfred, 2007). ADC (Aid to Dependent Children) was the first federal aid program developed under the 1935 New Deal of President Roosevelt, with an aim to complement pre-existing state support ventures for widows, as well as offer support to households wherein the head of the family was absent, deceased, or incapable of working.
Though initially meant to be a small-scale venture, ADC underwent rapid expansion. By 1938, nearly 250,000 households were enrolled in it. ADC enrolment continued rising in spite of quick economic progress, and decreasing poverty levels in the 50's. More than 600,000 families received federal benefits by 1956. Fixed block grants were granted to each state, based principally on pre-reform federal funding of their respective AFDC programs. This, however, caused states which had provided greater benefits to obtain a much larger amount of federal funds per poor household compared to other states (Blanche, 1995).
What is the Historical Background of the TANF?
TANF was created in 1996 by Congressional legislation, signed by the then-President Clinton. PRWORA created TANF from the earlier AFDC program, created through Congressional legislation under the Social Security Act, 1935 (Benjamin and Kerry, 2009). PRWORA signified the most significant AFDC-restructuring since its initiation. Key elements restructured include: (a) transference with key program design components and block-grant funding to each state...
TANF Time Limits The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF for short, is one of the more controversial and maligned or one of the most lauded and touted social safety net programs in the United States. Whether it is praised or denigrated depends a lot on who is doing the talking and what their motivations are. TANF has turned in a political football on a scale that dovetails quite nicely
However, there have been both positive and negative outcomes from these changes. Some of the positive changes are: reduced welfare caseloads, they have increase unemployment / income levels for the recipients' and it improves family security. While some of the negative outcomes would include:: low wages, dead end jobs, difficulty obtaining health / child care and inconsistent performance from social workers. This is significant, because it shows how the
The question of whether TANF is working to reduce the number of teen pregnancies is inconclusive. The literature review leaves many more questions than answers. Conclusion The literature review found many conflicting results and studies that were significantly flawed. The real impact of TANF on teen pregnancies cannot be determined from the studies conducted thus far. The mass media was found to quote inconclusive findings. The body of evidence found is
Policy Making Process Welfare Reform Policy Analysis Success of welfare reform is ambiguous. Media and well-known public officials claim to have had achieved welfare reforms. However, after 4 years of new policy regime, majority also accepts that welfare reforms have been successfully achieved. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) also validates this by stating that welfare rolls have dropped by 53% to 6.28 million recipients in June 2000 from 12.24 million
propositions that pertain to the policy-making process. After that, these propositions are to be tested. The author of this response will offer these three propositions, and the rationale behind them, one by one. The first proposition is that policy-making should be based less on simply facets of compassions and "fairness" and more on the results that would be garnered. A lot of people, for example, say that welfare was
Welfare System Changes: Early Outcomes The issue of welfare reform was the catch phrase, hot button topic for the majority of the two preceding decades in the United States. The questions that regional, state and federal government officials raised about the existing system and its exponential growth quickly developed from a snowball to an avalanche. The main concern expressed by the rhetoric was the alarming growth of the allocations being allotted
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