Summarize the benefits and shortcomings of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act abolished the Aid to Families of Dependent Children (AFDC) program and replaced it with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. No longer is cash assistance to the poor an entitlement. It is now short term and varies from state to state. Numerous studies have been conducted, and are continuing to be conducted, on the effects of TANF program. Supporters of the program cite the following benefits:
Employment of young single mothers (ages 18-24 ) has nearly doubled.
Employment of never-married mothers has increased.
The number of Americans on cash assistance (the AFDC program compared to TANF) has plummeted.
Teenage birthrates have fallen since 1996. One motivation for the passage of the 1966 Welfare Reform Act was the desire to change policies that conservatives claim reward early childbearing by single mothers.
Almost all mothers (and fathers) who are working state they prefer work to welfare. Having a job may be more psychologically beneficial to the parents and to their children than being on a stigmatized welfare program.
Critics of the TANF program site the following shortcomings:

Most mothers who leave the welfare rolls find jobs, but a large minority do not. Moreover, some of those who find jobs soon lose them and do not reappear on the welfare rolls.
Some former welfare recipients are making successful transitions to work, often after many years of welfare dependency. Yet even the more successful job holders experience economic hardship and often must ask for help from family and friends.
The long-term impact of welfare reform on both single mothers and their children could well turn out to be like the long-term impact of deinstitutionalization on the mentally ill; good for some but terrible for others.
Many working mothers report problems finding satisfactory child care.
The people who have been kicked off the welfare rolls are pushing down wages for low-skilled workers in the United States. The welfare overhaul has depressed the median wage of all women workers. Increased competition for jobs makes it easier for employers to pay less, and harder for unions to negotiate good contracts.
The group that has benefited most by welfare reform is employers-as this group now has a much larger pool of applicants for low-income jobs.
States now have much more choice in determining whom they will assist, what requirements they will impose upon those who receive aid, and what noncash supports those families will receive. As a result, there is much more disparity between states than existed under AFDC.
Most of those who receive TANF do not make it above the poverty line, as TANF benefits are often below the poverty line. In addition, many of those who obtain a job often remain in poverty because the jobs are often minimum-wage (or slightly above) jobs that are below the poverty line.
There is a serious danger that many TANF recipients will be trapped into long-term poverty. TANF programs provide almost no opportunities, via paid benefits, for TANF recipients to continue their education beyond high school. As a result, TANF recipients are likely to obtain minimum-wage jobs and other "dead-end work" (work involving poor pay, scant fringe benefits, and little opportunity for advancement).
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