Making welfare-to-work really work

In 1996, Congress and President Clinton effectively ended welfare entitlements by eliminating the safety net for children in poverty established by President Roosevelt in 1935. In its place lawmakers established a program that required parents receiving assistance to enter the work force, and set a five-year time limit on assistance. Congress is required to reauthorize the 1996 reforms by Oct. 1 of this year.

In February, President Bush unveiled his plan for reauthorization; the House responded by passing legislation that largely mirrors the president’s plan. The Senate is currently drafting its legislative proposal. At the same time, data from Census 2000 have been released which offer a clear picture of how families have been faring since the 1996 reforms.

Census data confirm that welfare caseloads have plummeted and more parents are employed. The motivating theory behind welfare’s reform was that work was the way to improve the lives of both parents and children: working parents would be role models of self-sufficiency for their children. While welfare reform did succeed in moving poor parents into jobs, it has largely failed to move these parents out of poverty. In Maine, 36 percent of families headed by single moms are still living in poverty. Close to 50,000 Maine children have parents who work year round but who struggle each day to make ends meet. Clearly, work is not a panacea.

To help children thrive as parents move to work, we need to ensure that family income increases and that children of all ages are properly cared for, supervised, and supported. Unfortunately, the Bush administration’s plan inhibits the efforts of working parents to establish economic self-sufficiency. The plan:

?severely increases the work requirements of parents receiving benefits;

?reduces the number of education and training hours that can count as “work,” even if needed for parents to become employable; and

?offers no new child care funding to support this increase in work requirements.

This proposal can only hurt working families. We shouldn’t require poor families, in particular, to fulfill increased work requirements without strengthening the supports they need to thrive as parents. A better investment is to make available adequate funds for child care and education/work training, and maintain the flexibility states need to help parents make successful transitions to work.

In fact, the most successful welfare-to-work programs in the nation, such as Maine’s Parents as Scholars, would not be possible within the framework proposed by President Bush. Parents as Scholars provides parents eligible for public assistance with critical support services, such as child care and transportation, while they are enrolled in post-secondary degree programs. An evaluation of the program by the Maine Equal Justice Partners revealed that Parents as Scholars graduates earn a median wage of $11.71 an hour, compared to a median wage of $7.50 an hour for former welfare recipients in Maine without post-secondary degrees. Further, nearly all graduates reported receiving benefit packages through their employers.

Fortunately for Maine and the nation, Sen. Olympia Snowe recognizes Parents as Scholars as precisely the type of program that Congress should support on a national level. Senator Snowe recently introduced Senate legislation, using Parents as Scholars as the model, to encourage post-secondary education for low-income parents working their way off welfare. The legislation would give parents participating in vocational or post-secondary education the same benefits they would receive if working. Senator Snowe’s legislation would help parents secure jobs that pay a livable wage, allow states the flexibility they need to respond to local labor market trends, and ensure that children are cared for as parents work to move up the ladder of economic success.

A wealth of research with both current and former welfare recipients has given us a reliable snapshot of both the successes and continuing challenges of welfare reform. We all want to see more parents working and fewer children in poverty. Clearly, the ladder to economic viability for working-poor families rests on public policies that reward work, but that also provide a system of supports that helps parents transition to secure employment. We must build on the progress of the past six years by strengthening supports for parents who have left welfare for work and who now face new challenges in caring for their children.

Lynn Davey, Ph.D. is Kids Count director with the Maine Children’s Alliance.