Welfare Reform and the "Shift in Policy and Perception"

When reading the NY Times article about the impact of welfare reform, its important to understand several things:

Yes "the number of people on welfare has plunged to 4.4 million, down 60 percent. Employment of single mothers is up. Child support collections have nearly doubled."

But as the article also states the booming economy in which welfare reform coincided with this which " created more jobs for single mothers surging into the work force." Thus as our economy has slowed down after 2001 "many of the most positive trends slowed" down as well.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a great report that highlight the weaknesses of TANF especially in a time when our economy is on the downturn. Employment rate is on the decline for single-mothers. At the same time, child poverty especially deep poverty (income below half the poverty line) increased by 774,000 while assistance from TANF declined. Thus the TANF has failed to serve "as a bulwark against deep poverty for many children."

The scariest development under TANF is that it is helping a smaller slice of eligible impoverished families. Participation has fallen from 80 percent in the early 90s (under the old welfare system) to 48 percent in 2002 under state eligibilitiy rules. This drop in participation accounts for 57 percent of the decline in welfare caseloads in the first decade of the TANF which in turn reflects "a decline in the extent to which TANF programs serve families that are poor enough to qualify, rather than to a reduction in the number of families who are poor enough to qualify for aid."
Thus the central aim of welfare-to-work in TANF isn't bringing people out of poverty rather stingier state requirements are preventing impoverished families from gaining help.