The Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF)

TANF is a program to provide cash assistance to those with little to no income. Yet, food stamps are a program to provide families with an income to purchase only food for their home. Food stamps have their restriction on certain food items on the other hand Temporary Assistance for a Needy family (TANF) doesn’t have any restriction on what the money is use for. In addition, there is a child support program. The child support program is to provide families with child care placement assistance which will help parents have the time to work. The program helps pay for any partial or for completely any fees depending on the family’s income. Furthermore, there is also a program that helps family pay for their basic utilities. For example, water, heat, gas etc… this program is known as energy or utility assistance. Another well know program is medical assistance. This program provides families who don’t have sufficient money to pay for medical insurance. Medicare covers for regular checkups, prescription medicine, dental care, and eye care.

Poverty has been a problem in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for years. The introduction of TANF seemed to be a hopeful new start for families in need, but what has TANF really instituted and accomplished? After years of a system of welfare “recipients” gaining cash assistance from the government, the new system was meant to inspire welfare “participants” to actively work in order to earn their cash assistance. While TANF has been implemented across the country, it’s effect on Milwaukee has yet to show any great significance. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families is simply a reformation of the welfare system with stringent work requirements, yet lacking the employment opportunities and resources necessary to accomplish its broad range of goals, ultimately to the disadvantage of those dependent on it.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act also shifted the spotlight of welfare from family maintenance through government-supported financial assistance to family economic self-sufficiency through paid employment. This federal welfare reform policy known as TANF encourages employment and personal responsibility by mandating states to provide financial benefits to families on a temporary basis, having recipients participate in a work requirement while receiving aid, and providing incentives for recipients to transition off welfare. The programs name indicated its purpose and the social message to the recipient.

It is not enough to provide material relief to those experiencing extreme deprivation(158). Therefore the federal government should establish and create opportunities for the poor to gain and maintain their citizenship in standard living. According to the book, "$2.00 a Day" writer Kaitlyn Edin emphasize one have the strong will to work but opportunities lack extremely, in which concede the fact that there aren't enough jobs with adequate pay, hours, and stability to go around(159). On one hand, I agree with Edin that the will of the poor is there, but the federal government should play more substantive role in getting individuals jobs.For instance, stated in the book, “In-depth interviews with 209 EITC claimants in the Northeast and Midwest in 2007 showed that while TANF receipt confers stigma and shame, claiming the EITC gives people dignity and restores their pride”(172). Also the federal government need to restore relationships in the workplace, increase wage, and prevent wage theft . For example, a successful grocery store called Market Basket located in New England starts employees off at twelve dollars an hour, offer health insurance, and paid sick to all employees(164). Creating better jobs and opportunities is the government role as it is our role to maintain a job and contribute as

While another review of families who left welfare and are working, tend to earn minimum wage eight dollars and twenty-five cents per hour. Many families left welfare not due to obtaining employment, but because they either fail to comply, or reached their sixty month time limit and was terminated from the program. While others experienced barriers such as: housing, child-care, domestic violence, learning disabilities and mental and physical illness. One of the future challenges will be to address the barriers facing TANF families, in order to prepare them for success in the workplace. The research published in the past used two design models. They both lack recent data specific to Illinois and various variables make it hard to formulate a clear outcome on the impact of Work First programs on Illinois TANF

The effects of the 1996 welfare reform bill helped declined caseloads on the social and economic well-being of fragile families, single mothers, and children. Although, the welfare reform was documented for making several positive changes such as reducing poverty rates, lowering the out of-wedlock childbearing, and formulated a better family structure, it is undeniable that poverty remained high among single mothers and their children. The reality of the matter was that most welfare recipients experienced serious barriers to maintain a stable employment due to their lack of skills, not having anyone available to take care of their young children when they leave for work as well as not gaining long-time employment with decent pay to help foster the family. As a result, most poor women and children were faced with the instability of economic and social future as welfare eligibility exhausted their efforts of supporting their families.

So if the poor of today earn roughly the same in current dollars as those many years ago, how do they afford their “elevated” lifestyle? The answer lies in over 200 Federal and State programs designed to support them until they are able to thrive independently. The most popular include the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Food Stamps,

It is usually available to families who have children that are eighteen years or younger and living at home with the parents. Over the years, the number of recipients has continued to rise tremendously. In 2012, 68 families for every 100 received TANF benefits (Kearney, 2014). However, this figure increased in 2013, with 76 families for every 100 receiving the benefits (Kearney, 2014). The largest part of this increase was indeed legal. However, of the total new membership cases, about 15 percent were fraudulent. The amount that that state used in meeting the needs of the fraudsters in 2013 is thought to have been $5 million (Esping-Andersen, 2013). The major reason for such a low incidence of welfare benefit fraud has been due to the stern law. Nevertheless, the cost foregone is still an economic wastage for Texas. Besides lowering the ability of Texas to achieve a higher economic potential, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefit fraud is critical as it denies the eligible or the legal recipients a better level of assistance. If fraud was eliminated completely, the needy would be availed with more meaningful level of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits and this would improve their social well-being

In 1996 the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant was created as a way to provide assistance to needy families and to end the dependence on government benefits through encouraging job preparation, marriage with the formation of two parent families, and work. In reality, TANF has created a weakened safety net and provides less protection for individuals facing poverty. It grants less assistance than before to lessen poverty and the hardship that comes along with it. The policy has become more of a Band-Aid that is continually ripped off due to its sanctions and requirements revealing the same deeper issues that were there in the first place. Families are stuck in a hole of poverty where they cannot climb out of, and policies like TANF help to maintain it. Since the year 2000, poverty in the U.S has been on the rise, especially the increase in deep poverty. The number of families in deep poverty rose from 2.7 million to 3 million between 1996 and 2013. This is an extremely important issue that we are currently facing in our country. More time and effort needs to be spent on both the creation and reformation of policies like TANF to help combat this rising issue in our country.

This paper discusses the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program that was established in 1996. It examines the development and goals of the policy as well as addresses the target population that benefits from this program. A review of the agencies associated with TANF and the benefits the program provides to its clients is also given. In addition, the funding sources of TANF are addressed. Lastly, it examines the social issue this program is meant to address.

First, if the government were to make welfare eligibility stricter it would impede on the attempts of those below the poverty line trying to find a job. TANF ?can free up additional dollars for work related expenses and other basic needs and thus aid families? efforts to move from welfare to work? (Sard and Daskal). It is needed to help pay for those ?necessities that often accompany employment, such as additional clothing and food costs, child care, and transportation to and from work? (Sard and Daskal). The program does not just hand out money, but provides the aid needed to ?achieve self-sufficiency? through employment (Cohn). Without the additional money for clothing, food costs, child care, and transportation, an individual would not be able to maintain employment and abide by the TANF requirements. It is evident that TANF is necessary for those individuals that live in poverty and are seeking employment. If the requirements were to become stricter, the number of the employed and those living below the poverty line would increase simultaneously.

Federal Government has the ability to create positive change in many social welfare systems. The support of the government ultimately determines the success of a social welfare program. They play an important role in the decisions of how funds are allocated and the importance of these various vulnerable populations. The federal government is used as a tool, to help implement and support social welfare programs. However, from my own opinion, it is sometimes lacking in the proper support needed in many aspects. This is caused by a plethora of reasons, not to say that the government is completely unsupportive. Yet, there may be a gap in the perception of these social issues. The government puts in place laws, regulations, system structures, and so on. Therefore, because the government are the implementers of how our country is ran, it is their responsibility to be a main facets in the support of the gaps that inevitably occur. Nonetheless, it can be difficult to understand the needs of these population’s and the reality of their hardships. Most in a position of power, such as the federal government, have not experienced the severity of the many situations, that results in individuals needing assistance from these social welfare programs. Moreover, it is essential that there is outreach to these populations. All the same, getting a more realistic view of the life in these contexts. For instance, the time cap of being on assistance throughout one’s

I believe that people who are in need should get the proper assistance they deserve. In high school, I volunteered at a soup kitchen and saw how children struggled to obtain their basic needs and in some essence, loss a piece of their childhood. I support TANF especially since it helps families, which includes aiding children who do not have the ability to support themselves. It is hard for me to see the children suffer especially since it is no fault of their own.

The United States federal government spent about $16.5 billion dollars each year to support the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) (“Policy” 2). This program, established in 1996, provides a block grant to the states, which use these funds to operate their own programs.

The change from Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which has been capped at a five-year lifetime limit for benefits, and it has given stricter eligibility criteria, which includes a requirement of workforce participation. This has sent many seeking Supplemental Security Income (SSI), to do so they need a diagnosed disability. Mental health and chronic pain claims have now become nearly the only way to get access to stable benefits. As these families are experiencing a greater economic hardship, many are finding that applying for SSI based on mental disability is the only way they can survive.