This article offers a review of welfare reform evaluation studies, summarizing research that has generated a consensus among mainstream policy analysts that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) has had few effects beyond caseload reductions and increases in employment. Given that supporters and…

Even before withstanding one of the most devastating economic crises in American history, families living in poverty have battled a dominant discourse that labels them as lacking personal responsibility, initiative, and the ability to make "good" choices. This discourse is reflected in the parent-involvement mandates of the No Child Left…

This Child Care Action Campaign (CCAC) issue brief details an audio conference convened by CCAC and the Child Care Law Center. Issues discussed include changes and implications resulting from the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. Areas covered, in a question-and-answer format, include: (1) Temporary…

Access to quality child care is critical to working parents. Prior to the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, states had a significant level of responsibility for child care, and the 1996 welfare reform law further expanded the state's role. This report examines state efforts in child care and early education in…

Documents the new federal welfare policies' effects on single mothers and their children living in poverty in Michigan, focusing on family health and viability, work requirements and sanctions, postsecondary education restrictions, and access to child care. Critically questions public educators' role and raises social policy issues related to…

This document reports on a congressional hearing on the George W. Bush administration's proposals for welfare reform and legislation to reauthorize the 1996 welfare reform law. Testimony includes statements from United States (US) Representatives John Boehner and Patsy Mink; Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human…