This document presents the hearings on work and welfare before the Senate Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy of the Committee on Finance. Testimony is presented by expert witnesses, and by individuals and groups with an interest in the welfare of children and families. The following are among the issues addressed: (1) the basic principles that should guide legislative action on behalf of dependent children and their families; (2) how parental responsibility for the care of children can be better enforced; (3) how poor parents can be helped to increase their incomes through work; (4) how government policy can effectively distinguish between households likely to be dependent for short and long periods of time; (5) what role various levels of government ought to play; and (6) how programmatic recommendations can be implemented in a period of fiscal restraint. (BJV)