Home

Chapter 3

For the Neediest of the Needy, Welfare Reforms Still Fall Short, Study Says

For the Neediest of the Needy, Welfare Reforms Still Fall Short, Study Says

This activity contains 3 questions.

	Summarized the accomplishments of the 1996 Welfare Reform legislation.   f Drastically reduced the number on the welfare rolls; helped place more single parents in jobs; welfare agencies much more aggressively addressed personal and family problems. kj blah

	Who remains underserved by the welfare reform policies?   d "...four years after they first contacted the welfare agency, only one-third of the parents held jobs in each quarter of 2003. Few, even among the successful workers, received enough income through work and public benefits to lift them above the poverty line. "Most of these TANF applicants were no better off, and in many cases they were worse off than when they sought assistance..." "...new study points to another national legacy: the often critical needs of those still seeking aid, who may encounter profound barriers to work that include disabilities or problems with mental health or substance abuse." "The mix of people the welfare office serves has changed radically,"... "The population that remains is, on average, a much needier population, and they were not helped." d

	What was one unintended consequence of the welfare reform policies?   At least have of the dramatic decline in welfare recipients was due to a decline in first time applicants. "Perhaps the most alarming finding was that because of neglect or abuse, a child was removed from the home of one in every six parents during the five years after they applied for welfare." "...the findings show that many parents seeking welfare are having a profound difficulty balancing the demands of work and parenting." "Experts said they were startled by the high proportion of welfare applicants in Milwaukee who had come to the attention of child welfare officials: in a five-year period, 40 percent of the parents were investigated for the possibility of abuse or neglect, and a child had been removed from the homes of 16 percent."

Copyright © 1995 - 2010 Pearson Education . All rights reserved. Pearson Allyn & Bacon is an imprint of Pearson . Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Permissions