Families Poverty And Welfare Reform

Author : Lawrence B. Joseph
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
ISBN 13 : 9780962675553
Total Pages : 380 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Families, Poverty, and Welfare Reform written by Lawrence B. Joseph and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume combines essays by public policy scholars with comments by social project directors who speak from their experiences in the field. Essays include critical assessments of policies to reduce dependency on welfare and a discussion of the effects of poverty on women and children, as well as a look at welfare reform in Illinois.

Author : Greg J. Duncan
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610448286
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book For Better and For Worse written by Greg J. Duncan and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2002-01-17 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Kathleen Ann Pickering
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271048174
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Welfare Reform in Persistent Rural Poverty written by Kathleen Ann Pickering and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 was enacted, policy makers, agency administrators, community activists, and academics from a broad range of disciplines have debated and researched the implications of welfare reform in the United States. Most of the attention, however, has focused on urban rather than rural America. Welfare Reform in Persistent Rural Poverty examines welfare participants who live in chronically poor rural areas of the United States where there are few job opportunities and poor systems of education, transportation, and child care. Kathleen Pickering and her colleagues look at welfare reform as it has been experienced in four rural and impoverished regions of the United States: American Indian reservations in South Dakota, the Rio Grande region, Appalachian Kentucky, and the Mississippi Delta. Throughout these areas the rhetoric of reform created expectations of new opportunities to find decent work and receive education and training. In fact, these expectations have largely gone unfulfilled as welfare reform has failed to penetrate poor areas where low-income families remain isolated from the economic and social mainstream of American society. Welfare Reform in Persistent Rural Poverty sheds welcome light on the opportunities and challenges that welfare reform has imposed on low-income families situated in disadvantaged areas. Combining both qualitative and quantitative research, it will be an excellent guide for scholars and practitioners alike seeking to address the problem of poverty in rural America.

Author : Sandra L. Morgen
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 080145784X
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Stretched Thin written by Sandra L. Morgen and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act became law in 1996, the architects of welfare reform celebrated what they called the new "consensus" on welfare: that cash assistance should be temporary and contingent on recipients' seeking and finding employment. However, assessments about the assumptions and consequences of this radical change to the nation's social safety net were actually far more varied and disputed than the label "consensus" suggests. By examining the varied realities and accountings of welfare restructuring, Stretched Thin looks back at a critical moment of policy change and suggests how welfare policy in the United States can be changed to better address the needs of poor families and the nation. Using ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews with poor families and welfare workers, survey data tracking more than 750 families over two years, and documentary evidence, Sandra Morgen, Joan Acker, and Jill Weigt question the validity of claims that welfare reform has been a success. They show how poor families, welfare workers, and welfare administrators experienced and assessed welfare reform differently based on gender, race, class, and their varying positions of power and control within the welfare state. The authors document the ways that, despite the dramatic drop in welfare rolls, low-wage jobs and inadequate social supports left many families struggling in poverty. Revealing how the neoliberal principles of a drastically downsized welfare state and individual responsibility for economic survival were implemented through policies and practices of welfare provision and nonprovision, the authors conclude with new recommendations for reforming welfare policy to reduce poverty, promote economic security, and foster shared prosperity.

Author : Sandra Morgen
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 0801459087
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Stretched Thin written by Sandra Morgen and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-30 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act became law in 1996, the architects of welfare reform celebrated what they called the new "consensus" on welfare: that cash assistance should be temporary and contingent on recipients' seeking and finding employment. However, assessments about the assumptions and consequences of this radical change to the nation's social safety net were actually far more varied and disputed than the label "consensus" suggests. By examining the varied realities and accountings of welfare restructuring, Stretched Thin looks back at a critical moment of policy change and suggests how welfare policy in the United States can be changed to better address the needs of poor families and the nation. Using ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews with poor families and welfare workers, survey data tracking more than 750 families over two years, and documentary evidence, Sandra Morgen, Joan Acker, and Jill Weigt question the validity of claims that welfare reform has been a success. They show how poor families, welfare workers, and welfare administrators experienced and assessed welfare reform differently based on gender, race, class, and their varying positions of power and control within the welfare state. The authors document the ways that, despite the dramatic drop in welfare rolls, low-wage jobs and inadequate social supports left many families struggling in poverty. Revealing how the neoliberal principles of a drastically downsized welfare state and individual responsibility for economic survival were implemented through policies and practices of welfare provision and nonprovision, the authors conclude with new recommendations for reforming welfare policy to reduce poverty, promote economic security, and foster shared prosperity.

Author : Isabel V. Sawhill
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0815798822
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Welfare Reform and Beyond written by Isabel V. Sawhill and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004-05-26 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Brookings Institution's Welfare Reform & Beyond Initiative was created to inform the critical policy debates surrounding the upcoming congressional reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and a number of related programs that were created or dramatically altered by the 1996 landmark welfare reform legislation. The goal of the project has been to take the large volume of existing and forthcoming research studies and shape them into a more coherent and policy-oriented whole. This capstone collection gathers twenty brief essays (published between January 2001 and February 2002) that focus on assessing the record of welfare reform, specific issues likely to be debated before the TANF reauthorization, and a broader set of policy options for low-income families. It is a reader-friendly volume that will provide policymakers, the press, and the interested public with a comprehensive guide to the numerous issues that must be addressed as Congress considers the future of the nation's antipoverty policies. The collection covers the following topics and features a new introduction from the editors: - An Overview of Effects to Date - Welfare Reform Reauthorization: An Overview of Problems and Issues - A Tax Proposal for Working Families with Children - Welfare Reform and Poverty - Reducing Non-Marital Births - Which Welfare Reforms are Best for Children? - Welfare and the Economy - What Can Be Done to Reduce Teen Pregnancy and Out-of-Wedlock Births? - Changing Welfare Offices - State Programs - Welfare Reform and Employment - Fragile Families, Welfare Reform, and Marriage - Health Insurance, Welfare, and Work - Helping the Hard-to-Employ - Sanctions and Welfare Reform - Child Care and Welfare Reform - Job Retention and Advancement in Welfare Reform - Housing and Welfare Reform - Non-Citizens - Block Grant Structure - Food Stamps - Work Support System - Possible Welfare Re

Author : Douglas Besharov
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351520512
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Family and Child Well-being After Welfare Reform written by Douglas Besharov and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since their historic high in 1994, welfare caseloads in the United States have dropped an astounding 59 percent--more than 5 million fewer families receive welfare. Family and Child Well-Being after Welfare Reform, now in paperback, explores how low-income children and their families are faring in the wake of welfare reform. Contributors to the volume include leading social researchers. Can existing surveys and other data be used to measure trends in the area? What key indicators should be tracked? What are the initial trends after welfare reform? What other information or approaches would be helpful? The book covers a broad range of topics: an update on welfare reform (Douglas J. Besharov and Peter Germanis); ongoing major research (Peter H. Rossi); material well-being, such as earnings, benefits, and consumption (Richard Bavier); family versus household (Wendy D. Manning); fatherhood, cohabitation, and marriage (Wade F. Horn); teenage sex, pregnancy, and nonmarital births (Isabel V. Sawhill); child maltreatment and foster care (Richard J. Gelles); homelessness and housing (John C. Weicher); child health and well-being (Lorraine V. Klerman); nutrition, food security, and obesity (Harold S. Beebout); crime, juvenile delinquency, and dysfunctional behavior (Lawrence W. Sherman); drug use (Peter Reuter); mothers' work and child care (Julia B. Isaacs); and the activities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Don Winstead and Ann McCormick). When welfare reform was first debated, many people feared that it would hurt the poor, especially children. The contributors find little evidence to suggest this has occurred. As time limits and other programmatic requirements take hold, more information will be needed to assess the condition of low-income families after welfare reform. This informative volume establishes a baseline for that assessment.

Author : Kathryn Edin
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 0544303180
Total Pages : 239 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book $2.00 a Day written by Kathryn Edin and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2015 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of a kind of poverty in America so deep that we, as a country, don't even think exists--from a leading national poverty expert who "defies convention" (New York Times)

Author : Sandra Morgen
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9783177800000
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Stretched Thin written by Sandra Morgen and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the effects of mid 1990s welfare reform in the state of Oregon. The reforms made cash assistance temporary and contingent on recipients' seeking and finding employment. Based on comprehensive research conducted in the late 1990s, researchers interviewed and observed low-income families across the state, as well as welfare workers and administrators. These interviews led to new definitions of the problems facing those who work within the welfare delivery system and the people the system serves. The researchers assessed the strengths and shortcoming of welfare reform, and they suggest policy directions that will promote economic security and family well being. The reasons for the overall failure of welfare reform, the authors concluded, are complex and rooted in a misdiagnosis of the reasons that millions of families are poor and dependence on policy solutions "that intensified economic insecurity and reproduced inequalities more than they fostered poverty reduction or economic opportunity." The authors call for an immediate effort to build a stronger social safety net and to repeal the most onerous provisions of welfare reform. They recommend a host of policies to promote economic security including a focus on developing higher wage jobs, health care reform, and access to high quality and affordable higher education, housing and child care.

Author : Harrell R. Rodgers
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317477138
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book American Poverty in a New Era of Reform written by Harrell R. Rodgers and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new edition of American Poverty in a New Era of Reform provides a comprehensive examination of the extent, causes, effects, and costs of American poverty nearly ten years after the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996. The author includes the most current available demographic, budget, evaluation, and program data to evaluate the impact of this sweeping legislation on federal and state policies, as well as on poverty populations. This revised edition takes into account the economic slowdown that took place in 2001 through 2003. It examines the state decisions about how to implement PRWORA, and how changes have affected the poverty population and overall welfare system. The author identifies the positive implications of welfare reform along with problems that must be addressed. New features for this edition include an appendix of Internet sources a state-by-state tables of poverty rates.