Welfare Reform and State Policy Choices

With the passage of the Personal Responsibility and §Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, states §gained more discretion for welfare provisions than §they had previously experienced. Many states §adopted strict work attachment strategies, believing §that doing so would be a better way to reduce §welfare dependency. As a result, there has been an §unpredicted reduction in welfare recipient caseloads §and a corresponding increase in work participation. §However, little is known about determinants of state §choices for work attachment strategies after the §1996 reforms and impact of work attachment §strategies on welfare recipients, former welfare §recipients, and poverty. This book explains §theoretical underpinnings of work attachment §strategies; determinants of state work attachment §strategies choices; factors influencing employment, §income, and poverty at the state and individual §level. This study provides important information §for policy makers, political science scholars, and §social work professionals to understand political §and socioeconomic systems of state policy choices §and the impact of main policies of the 1996 welfare §reform on low income families.