This paper examines patterns of change in the number of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan Texas counties, 1980-1990. Specifically, the paper analyzes how changes in AFDC enrollment can be explained by demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and the extent to which factors explaining…

Charles Murray's book, "Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980," proposes the abolition of benefit programs for all working-aged persons for the following reasons: (1) it is logically impossible for the government to aid the poor by creating incentives for people to become poor; (2) since the mid-1960s the United States has so…

The Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) is a welfare reform initiative based on enhancing welfare recipients' incentives to get a job and requiring long-term welfare recipients to participate in employment-focused activities. The effects of the MFIP were compared to those of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program through…

The validity of the notion that welfare receipt is equivalent to "dependency" and work represents "self-sufficiency" was examined in a qualitative study during which 214 recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and 165 low-wage single mothers in 4 U.S. cities were interviewed. The women were contacted…

Children are among the poorest of Maine's residents. Nearly 1 in 5 children under the age of 18, 19.3%, lived in families below the federal poverty line in the early 1990s. Most of these poor children lived in working families. The working poor are often missing from policy debates, but their numbers are likely to increase with welfare reform…

The potential effects of raising the minimum wage on the earnings of mothers moving from welfare to work were examined by analyzing the differences that existed in the late 1980s in the various states' minimum wage rates and data from three waves of the Survey of Income and Program Participation for the years 1985-1990 (during which time 13 states…

The study directs attention away from urban poverty to the nation's rural poor and how they are served by five public assistance programs: Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and its Unemployed Fathers Component (AFDC-UF), Supplementary Security Income (SSI), Food Stamps (FS), and General Assistance. The 41% of the nation's poor who…

The rapid impoverishment of women and their children has serious implications for the American family and for the nation. This report includes testimony before the Illinois Commission on the Status of Women from national and state representatives of women's organizations, social services agencies, advocacy groups, and civil rights organizations. A…

Studies of nearly a dozen welfare programs were reviewed to determine the effects of welfare policies on children and youth and to identify issues requiring consideration during reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The following were among the key findings: (1) the school achievement of elementary school-age…

Structured work and training activities for welfare recipients in West Virginia began in 1962 when the state's entire caseload of two-parent families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children was enrolled in mandatory work and training activities. In 1980s-1990s, the Community Work Experience Program became an important tool in…

Five years after the massive overhaul of the nation's welfare system, 21 Maine families receiving public assistance spoke about their lives during welfare reform. The following were among the key themes that emerged throughout the conversations: (1) those leaving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) often remain poor or very nearly poor;…