Impoverished women with children and no welfare benefits: the urgency of researching failures of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
In the United States, the numbers of impoverished women with children and no cash safety net are increasing and constitute an emerging population. Many have exhausted cash benefits from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the work-based welfare program that replaced Aid to Families With Dependent Children in 1996. We examine empirical evidence about poverty and use of welfare programs in the United States, jobs for women on welfare, the consequences of leaving welfare, health disparities disproportionate to those of the general population, and outcomes for children of needy families. It is important that public health researchers investigate the experiences of the families for whom Temporary Assistance for Needy Families has failed.
Hildebrandt
Eugenie
E
College of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA. hbrandt@uwm.edu
Stevens
Patricia
P
D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D005190:Family; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006078:Government Programs; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D014932:Women's Health Services