Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/federal-welfare-reform-and-the-impact-on-subsidized-child-care/5017759/
This article describes recent federal changes to welfare programs, the impact of those changes on states, the interplay with subsidized child care, and suggests these changes are likely to lead to 550,000 fewer children in subsidized child care nationwide in 2011 than were receiving child care assistance in 2000. To set the context, it is important to describe the original “welfare reform” undertaken by Congress more than a decade ago.Brief history of welfare reform
In 1996, Congress initiated the process of “welfare reform” and completely restructured what had been the nation’s cash assistance program for poor families. The goal of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program1 was to reduce the welfare rolls by getting recipients into jobs that could bring their families above the poverty level. The TANF program used a “work first” approach designed to help families quickly engage in whatever work-related activities and employment was available and become self-sufficient by replacing cash assistance (formerly AFDC) with wages.
The TANF program gave states great flexibility to design their own rules for their cash assistance programs. The federal program placed only a few basic requirements on states: welfare recipients are restricted to a 60-month lifetime limit on cash assistance, ...