The Bumpy Road off TANF for Rural Mothers

ABSTRACT. Rural welfare mothers receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) have a difficult time reaching economic security and lessening their reliance on benefits because of the impediments they face regarding employment opportunities, transportation, child care resources, and more. This article focuses on 62 rural mothers, each receiving TANF at some point during the three year Rural Families Speak study. By their third-year interview, only 11 of the 62 mothers had household incomes above 150% of poverty for their family size. These 11 achieved success through educational training in fields offering livable wages. The other 51 mothers were struggling to overcome barriers such as poor health and lack of transportation. The rural economy was a barrier faced by both the successful and non-successful mothers. Mothers representing those who got off TANF and those who did not were both profiled. Their words add to the quantitative findings. Rural residents face barriers measurably different from their urban counterparts, and policy makers have not considered rural-urban differences in creating TANF regulations. The barriers and pathways identified in this study should inform future public policy decisions