Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

WELFARE REFORM – GETTING IT RIGHT

Jan 26, 2002

**?“Call this Success??”
A young single mother tells the Forum for Youth Investment what life is
like after welfare reform: ?“Sometimes I look at the people who say I?’m
a
success story?…they are the ones driving the BMW, while I take the bus
or a
cab and borrow money from my grandmother that I know I can never pay
back
?… I say, ?‘Come live with me for a week, and then you tell me.?’ ?”
http://www.forumforyouthinvestment.org/fyi/crawforda.pdf

**Depression among Welfare Recipients: A Concern for Two Generations
In its review of the research, this Child Trends Research Brief finds
that
welfare recipients who are seriously depressed may have more difficulty
getting and keeping a job, and their children, like those of higher
income
mothers, are at risk for more behavioral and academic difficulties.
There
is evidence that some welfare-to-work programs can increase mothers?’
depressive symptoms and negative outcomes for their children, but
evidence
of improvements in other programs. The brief concludes that it is
important (both in terms of mothers?’ employment and how children are
doing) to understand the kinds of programs that bring about these
favorable and unfavorable changes.
http://www.childtrends.org/PDF/Research%20_Brief_Depression.pdf

**Is Work Enough? Current and Former Welfare Mothers Who Work
Among welfare-to-work women drawn from some of the poorest
neighborhoods
in the country, fully one-third of those who were working when
interviewed
had been in the same job for more than two years, reports the Manpower
Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC). Despite their employment,
however, most of the women had jobs that would make lifting their
families
out of poverty difficult without other income sources. Data from this
study suggest that more needs to be done to ?“make work pay.?”
http://www.mdrc.org/Reports2001/UC-IsWorkEnough/Overview-IsWorkEnough.htm

**The Challenge of Helping Low-Income Fathers Support Their Children
Launched in 1994 in seven sites, Parents Fair Share was a national
demonstration program that aimed to help low-income noncustodial
fathers
find more stable and better-paying jobs, pay child support on a
consistent
basis, and become more involved parents. The findings in this final
evaluation report from MDRC identify difficulties and complexities in
achieving these aims.
http://www.mdrc.org/Reports2001/PFS/PFSHelpingFathersOverview.htm

**Health Insurance, Welfare and Work
The Medicaid provisions of the 1996 welfare reform law led to
unintended
declines in Medicaid enrollment by low-income adults and children. This
Brookings policy brief argues that the goal of Medicaid is to assist a
large number of low-wage working families who are not offered coverage
through their employer. Public policy should completely de-link
Medicaid
and TANF to create a health insurance system that serves the needs of
all
who are eligible, whether they are on welfare, have left welfare or
have
never been on welfare.
http://www.brookings.edu/wrb

**?“Making Welfare Work: Reauthorization 2002" Audio Conferences
The Center for Law and Social Policy's new series of Friday Audio
Conferences will let you hear the latest legislative developments that
could impact programs and policy. The series will begin on January 25
with
Wade Horn, Ph.D., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
assistant
secretary for children and families outlining his priorities for
welfare
reauthorization and what he has learned from around the country.
http://www.clasp.org/audioconference/2002_brochure.htm
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