Abstract
This paper examines issues and controversies in the social welfare system, with an emphasis on Aid For Dependent Children (AFDC). First, the paper considers the background of AFDC and how it has changed directions over the past decades. In particular, the paper suggests that this program has encouraged poor unmarried mothers to remain single. Other criticisms of the system are also addressed which undermine the program's original intention. Next,the paper discusses the need for welfare reform which has federal oversight of state-run programs. It also acknowledges that terminating welfare benefits and imposing stricter eligibility requirements are inappropriately harsh and disproportionately harmful to the poorest segment of society. The paper concludes by stating that welfare regulation must maintain and enforce stricter controls to ensure that welfare programs benefit rather than harm U.S. society.

Outline:

Background and History
The Failed Purpose of Welfare
Major Criticisms
The Need for Welfare Reform
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Critics of the AFDC component of the federal welfare program succeeded in achieving national welfare reform partly by pointing out correctly that the institution into which the social initiative had evolved by the last decade of the 20th century was substantially different from that which it was originally designed to serve a particular social purpose. Specifically, the AFDC aspect of the federal welfare program was originally intended to provide appropriate assistance to children living in one-parent homes by virtue of divorce or the death of a parent; conversely, the AFDC program was not intended to encourage single parenthood or to provide a disincentive to marriage."

Tags:ethnicity, gender, class, AFDC, Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act

Abstract
The paper studies the ways in which specific children are able to succeed in school, with the focus on AFDC, or Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The paper first looks to define AFDC families, then gives statistics to illustrate the difficulties these children face in the academic environment. The writer also includes commentary by theorists who study this phenomenon.

From the Paper
"Other scholars with the "cultural" perspective extend the impact of the negative socialization to the surrounding environment, including the neighborhood and the schools (Duncan, Hill, & Hoffman, 1988, p. 470). In reality, children from low-income single mother families live in poor neighborhoods and go to low-quality schools (Bennett, 1995, p. 25; Duncan, Hill, & Hoffman, 1988, p. 470). Since most of the school funding comes from local property taxes, poor districts have little funding to provide a decent education for their constituents (Horn, 1987, p. 66). In these neighborhoods, the role models for these children are often unemployed adults, criminals and juvenile delinquents. There are no resources for child development, such as playgrounds, child care, medical facilities and parks (Duncan & Brooks-Gunn, 1997, p. 71). Furthermore, to survive in these tough neighborhoods, the children are taught at a young age to be aggressive and intimidate other people, a behavior that is not helpful for performing well in school (Bower, 1994, p. 24)."

Tags:students, divorce, education, parenting, school

Abstract
"The topic of this presentation is the effects of lower-income single-parent mothers on their children s educational achievements, with the focus on AFDC families.

Before discussing the effects of the single-parent family structure on the children, it is important to have a general profile of an AFDC family. Therefore, the class will have a clear picture of the impact of the family on its children s educational achievements.

From the Paper
"The topic of this presentation is the effects of lower-income single-parent mothers on their children s educational achievements, with the focus on AFDC families.


Before discussing the effects of the single-parent family structure on the children, it is important to have a general profile of an AFDC family. Therefore, the class will have a clear picture of the impact of the family on its children s educational achievements.


AFDC, which stands for Aid to Families with Dependent Children, is a subsidy that is almost entirely devoted to single mothers. In 1983 (the latest official statistics available), single mothers constituted 75 percent of all AFDC mothers. In this group of single mothers, 45 percent are divorced or separated, while 30 percent had babies out of wedlock..."

Tags:FAMILY, &, MARRIAGE

Abstract
This paper examines the human behavior towards Black single mothers. The paper explains that giving a hand to poor or needy Black women, particularly Black single mothers, requires knowledge of Black history and welfare and an understanding of their experience in that context. The paper looks at how while White society confined its women to the home as housekeepers, Black women in the South did not have that option even if their husbands could support them. The paper then points out that in 1996, US President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act to replace the AFDC. It allowed women to work and controlled their reproductive ability which mostly benefited Black mothers and their children. The paper concludes that genuine assistance to any specific group should be drawn from the history and experience of that group. In the case of Black single mothers, the social worker needs to know and understand their long and painful history.

From the Paper
"Masters of Black slaves bred them as livestock, pairing Black men and Black women with the intention of producing the best offspring, which would perform the best labor and bring in the greatest economic gain (Prince 1999). With their emancipation as full citizens, laws passed to modify and improve their condition. These laws protected them from physical abuse, allowed them to travel, build their own schools, buy land and learn useful skills, which later made many of them succeed as entrepreneurs. Emancipation may have eased but sexual discrimination remained, as neither White nor Black women were allowed to vote."

Tags:politics, social, work, masculine, beating

Abstract
This paper is a research paper designed to be a policy recommendation that addresses specific problems with current TANF welfare programs. The author discusses Congressional overhaul of the traditional welfare system,and AFDC.

From the Paper
"Congress began the process of overhauling the welfare system known as AFDC Aid to Families with Dependent Children that had been in place since the same year the Social Security Act was enacted as part of the New Deal policies, implemented under President Franklin Roosevelt. Passed by a Republican Congress and signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of ... has already been hailed a success on ..."

Tags:welfare, TANF, Personal Responsibilty and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, social services, inner city, single mothers, welfare-to-work

Abstract
This paper discusses that TANF replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Families (AFDC) portion of federally financed welfare assistance and was radically different than it. This paper describes that TANF consists of block grants of fixed amounts of federal funds to the states, which are free to provide welfare assistance to the poor on such terms as they individually see fit, subject to only to constitutional requirements and federal guidelines. The author feels that the aim of the TANF is to reduce the welfare rolls and associated costs by imposing time and other limitations on the availability of welfare benefits and by encouraging the transition of recipients from welfare to work.

Table of Contents
Background
Demands for Welfare Reform in the 1980s
First Three Years of Clinton Administration (1993-1995)
Passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996
Evaluation of the Impact and Success or Failure of TANF
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Federal relief was originally intended as a temporary measure designed to alleviate the suffering caused by the economic dislocation produced by the Great Depression. President Franklin Roosevelt said at the time he introduced the Federal Relief Act in 1935 that "continued dependence on relief induces spiritual and moral degeneration." Primary reliance was on make work jobs as a source of income. AFDC was added as supplementary relief for families where the principal breadwinner was dead, absent or disabled. Over time, AFDC was expanded to include survivors and dependent coverage. In 1960s under Lyndon Johnson's anti-poverty program, additional federal and state financial assistance to poor families was provided in the form of free food stamps and school lunches, free or subsidized health care, education and housing, and aid to the elderly and disabled."

Tags:state, guidelines, constitution, limitations, benefits

Abstract
In this article, the writer considers ways to close the divide between rich and poor in the United States and evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches. The writer discusses strategies to redistribute wealth, and close the gap.

From the Paper
"According to the old song the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and that is often portrayed as the case in the United States by media. Stories abound in which the very rich in large houses driving gas-guzzling cars go about their business with little care or understanding of how the other half lives. At the same time there are also reports of how entire families squeeze into small houses or apartments due ..."

Tags:poverty, wealth, rich, poor, AFDC

Abstract
This paper shows research from several state welfare systems. It demonstrates which states benefited and suffered from the passage of the PRWORA in terms of welfare to work requirements. The paper demonstrates why this difficulty occurred and proves that this legislation created unbalanced federalism because many states have different requirements of welfare recipients, which makes it difficult for states to work together.

Outline:
Goals of the PRWORA
TANF Requirements
State Powers

From the Paper
"Besides New York, many other states went through hardships after the PRWORA was implemented. For example, Texas has no state general relief program, and in 2000 its TANF benefit level was the fifth lowest in the United States (above only Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama). Time limits in Texas also differ from other states. Texas is the only state with a tiered system of time limits that include 12-, 24-, and 36-month limits, depending on their schooling and recent work experience. The 12-month tier is the lowest time limit in any state, though Florida and Massachusetts also have 24-month limits. Sanctions for noncompliance with work requirements are imposed swiftly and frequently in both Houston and El Paso. Though some other states have used the flexibility of TANF to impose full-family sanction policies, in Texas the penalty for failure to participate in the program affects the caretaker's portion of the total grant. Work noncompliance penalties amount to a maximum of $78 monthly for a single parent and $125 for a two-parent case. "

Tags:bill, clinton, welfare, public, TANF, AFDC, work, jobs, assistance

Abstract
The history of governmental economic assistance to families in America is a relatively short one. From the colonial era through the nineteenth century, family and government were seen as two entirely separate entities and any economic assistance that a family might receive would have to come from private organizations. The paper shows that the Great Depression of 1929, however, forever changed the relationship between the family and the government. As part of the "New Deal", the federal government greatly expanded its role in providing economic assistance to those left behind by the labor market. The paper traces the history of economic assistance as a social policy until the present day.

From the Paper
"The fact that a Democratic president signed the Republican-written PRWORA into law may seem odd when you consider the traditional terms of the liberal-conservative welfare debate. The PRWORA was quite different from the welfare reform proposals Clinton had proposed in 1992 but never pushed through Congress. While Clinton's plan would have put time limits on receiving benefits, his program would not have ended AFDC's status as an entitlement, and would have provided mothers who reached the end of the five-year payment limit with government service jobs (Cherlin, 183) - something the Republican-sponsored PRWORA in 1996 was not to include."

Tags:Roosevelt, Social, Security, Act, AFDC, discrimination, TANF

Abstract
The Great Depression remains one of the landmark events--many have called it the "defining moment" -- of the twentieth century. This paper shows how, by almost all measures, it brought about a transformation of the role of the federal government in the American economy, as Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal set out to bring relief, recovery and reform to the beleaguered populace. The paper examines how President Roosevelt and his New Dealers achieved almost mythic status as selfless saviors of the economy. It shows too how the results of the New Deal were sometimes exaggerated and how flaws have been found in the overall plan.

From the Paper
"In addition to increasing doubts about the beneficial effects of New Deal programs, questions have begun to be raised about the selfless motivation of those in charge of the programs. Some politicians in the late 1930s charged that political considerations had played an important role in the Roosevelt administration's decisions about how to allocate funds among the states. In examining various documents in the reelection campaign of Roosevelt, Don Reading concluded that relief and recovery of pre-depression income levels were much more important considerations than economic reform."

Tags:Hundred, Days, Agricultural, Adjustment, Act, AFDC, FERA