Welfare Reform and the Well-Being of Families: Successes to Date and Challenges Ahead

This issue brief discusses a key issue in evaluating the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA): the status of families after the implementation of this landmark welfare reform program. The new block grant program to states to administer the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families(TANF) program has been extremely effective when measured by lower welfare rolls and higher work rates and earnings for recipients. However, an equally important dimension described by the paper is what is known about longer-term effects and the status of people who have left welfare, with special emphasis on how children have fared