Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - Research Paper Example

? Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Temporary Assistance for Needy Families The Temporary Assistance for Needy Familiesis one of the programs under United States of America's federal assistance that was enacted in the year 1996. This program was the successor of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. The program was meant to provide financial assistance to the poverty stricken families having dependent children. The government gave the financial aid on a temporal basis while working on getting families off the state where they would need the assistance. This paper aims at discussing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and how it affects behavior and labor force participation. Critiques of Aid to Families with Dependent Children program had claimed that the program was highly ineffective and was only encouraging dependency on the government. This argument was backed by the high rate of increase in case load that was experienced in between 1990 and 1994. This led to the introduction of welfare-work programs. These programs were found to have highly increased employment rates and reducing welfare rolls. However, the programs had very minimal effect on the income of former welfare recipients. This proved that the programs were not efficient in poverty eradication. The government then made the decision to turn welfare into a transitional system. Under this system financial assistance would be provided to the needy just for a certain period then they would be required to work and earn their own money by using the knowledge they got from the training offered to them during the welfare (Moffitt, 2002). The congress reforms that led to the enactment of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families had five main themes. The welfare was supposed to undergo reform in order for them to promote time limits and work. They also aimed at reducing federal spending on financial aid to the needy families with dependent children. Through the reforms the congress wanted to promote parental responsibility amongst the American citizens. The reforms were also meant to curb the high rate of increase of out-of-wedlock births in the United States of America. The congress was aiming at promoting devolution in the USA. These themes are the ones which led to the introduction and enactment of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in the USA (Sawhill, 2002). Encouraging work amongst welfare recipients was one of the major aims of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Before the reforms that brought about the introduction of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, there was no increase in the rate of employment amongst the welfare recipients (Brockman, 2013). In between 1994 and 1999 there was a labor participation increase of about 10% amongst the welfare recipients. This is encouraged by the requirement of the welfare recipients to work. With this they were able to be of greater labor significance to the country’s economy. One of the contributing factors to the increase in employment amongst welfare recipients is the period restriction. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families states that no individual would be allowed to receive welfare for more than 5 years. Some of the states have even made the number of years less (Falk & United States, 2008). This policy makes the recipients to want to involve themselves in income earning activities in preparation for the end of welfare assistance. Given the fact that the recipients are financially needy the only legitimate income generating activity that they would effectively involve in is an employment and provision of labor. Through this they increase the country’s general labor force. The fact that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families encouraged devolution also contributed to the increase in the rate of employment amongst welfare recipients. Through devolution states were able to design and implement programs that would encourage employment amongst the policy recipients. This is majorly because of the diversity of the industrial and labor requirements of the states. Federal policies would have inconvenienced some of the states. This even explains why some of the states have less welfare provision periods as compared to others. The conditions set by states on eligibility of recipients’ encourage labor participation. One of such requirements is the requirement to work. Recipients are required to work in order to eligible for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Failure to involve in meaningful economic activities individuals might be considered to be ineligible for the assistance (Gilbert & Parent, 2004). This means that the recipients will be forced to work within the first two years of eligibility in order for them to continue receiving the assistance. The main behavioral concerns that led to the introduction of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families was the decline in marriages and the high rate of out-of-wedlock births. After the enactment of TANF there was a significant decrease in the rate of divorce and single parents in the USA. The period that followed the enactment of this policy saw a decrease in single parent families. There were also a general increase in marriage and cohabitation. This is an evidence that the reforms had a significant effect on the behavior of individuals who had it also enhanced an increase in parental responsibility especially with the new conditions of eligibility and time limits (Jefferson, 2012). The reforms also reduced the number of out-of-wedlock births significantly. It was observed that the period between 1994 and 1999 there was a decline of about 20% of out-of-wedlock pregnancies. This was contributed to by various provisions under TANF that were specifically aimed at reducing the rates unwed childbirths in the USA (Gabe, 2003). A good example of such provisions is the extra grant that the federal government gave to states with the highest reductions of unwed births. This acted as a motivation to the states to establish policies that would control the sexual behaviors of the unwed. The enactment of the TANF has highly contributed to the increase in maternal employment, especially amongst the poor people. It is argued that maternal employment can enhance a child’s emotional and cognitive development. A mother who is employed is likely to act as a good role model to the children. This is because children are likely to have a positive perspective of work. This kind of perspective is likely to shape their behavior and work attitude even when they are grownups. However, there are critics who claim that maternal employment can be of a negative impact to the wellbeing of children. This is because an employed mother is likely to have little quality time with their children, fail to perform maternal duties due to stress, and spend too much on childcare and transport. This way the mothers are likely to have inadequate time to monitor the development and growth of their children. This increases the likeliness of the children picking up inappropriate behaviors. It is clearly evident that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families had an impact in the lives of welfare recipients in the USA. The total financial allocation was reduced thus reducing dependence on the government. There were also reforms that encouraged to work amongst welfare recipients. The result of these reforms was an increase in the number of welfare recipients working and thus reduction of poverty. There was also a decrease in divorces and unwed births and an increase in the rate of marriages and cohabitation. References Brockman, T. (2013). Temporary assistance for needy families: Work requirements revisited / Theodore Brockman, editor. New York: Nova Science. Falk, G., & United States. (2008). The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. New York: Nova Science Publishers Gabe, T. (2003). Trends in welfare, work and the economic well-being of female-headed families with children. New York: Novinka Books. Gilbert, N., & Parent, A. (2004). Welfare reform: A comparative assessment of the French and US experiences. New Brunswick, NJ [u.a.: Transaction Publ. Jefferson, P. N. (2012). The Oxford handbook of the economics of poverty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Moffitt, R. A. (2002). Welfare programs and labor supply. Handbook of public economics, 4, 2393-2430. Sawhill, I. V. (2002). Welfare reform and beyond: The future of the safety net. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institution. Read More