Single African-American Mothers

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews two approaches in social work to single African-American mothers and poverty. The first approach, practiced during the "Great Society" era of the 1960s and 1970s, focused on state-provided welfare, housing and other assistance for single African-American mothers and their families. The second era, starting with the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, focused on integrating poor African-American mothers into the workforce, and providing support services to insure that those mothers could support their children, learn a trade, and become self-supporting. Specifically, this paper presents a sociologically-oriented study of both approaches, establishing what works and why, and what elements can be improved. The paper discusses the two programs in three parts: (1) it explains the goals and implementation of the Great Society program, (2) it explains the goals and implementation of the Welfare Reform Act, and (3) it compares and contrasts the two programs, with a sociological analysis of the outcomes and consequences for social workers.

Outline:
Introduction
The Great Society: Goals and Implementation
Background and Purpose of the Great Society
Actual Implementation
The Social Challenge: Needed Assistance Wasn't Available
Welfare Reform Act, 1996
Background
Concerns about TANF and Current Welfare Programs
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The ambitious programs called on a significant increase in social workers. At the time, there were only 2,000 social workers in HEW, but the need was estimated at 35,000 in order to implement the imperatives of the CAP and the "War on Poverty." The predictable result was that many of the new hires had no experience, academic or working, in social work. By the time of the renewal of the act, in 1967, Congress attempted to modify the AFDC, or Aid to Families with Dependent Children, portion of the act in order to address concerns about absent fathers. The perverse effect was that those who had a father present were penalized, while those who were single mothers without an actual, even common-law, husband found their welfare payments reduced. In addition, AFDC provisions paid single mothers additional monthly amounts for each new child. The result was that, by 1970, poverty had been reduced, but the rate of single-parent families increased substantially."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bush, L. (2000). African-American Mothers/African-American Sons: A Critical Examination of the Social Science Literature. Western Journal of African-American Studies , 145-167.
• Cherry, F. &. (1977). Physical and cognitive development in children of low-income mothers working in the child's early years. Child Development , 158-166.
• Garfinkle, I. a. (1986). Single Mothers and their children: A new American dilemma. Washington: Urban Institute.
• Haskins, R. (1989). Beyond metaphor: The efficacy of early childhood education. American Psychologist , 274-282.
• Johnson, L. B. (1964, May 22). Great Society Speech, LBJ, 1964. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States , pp. 704-707.

More papers on Single African-American Mothers:

• Research Paper # 4507 : "The Resiliency of African-American Families"
• Research Paper # 95409 : "Math Achievement in African-American Males"
• Essay # 27201 : "Single Black Mothers and Welfare"

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