The Impact of Welfare Reform Time Limits on Children and Families: Implications for Reauthorization

Abstract

The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Oppor­tunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996 abolished the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, and replaced the AFDC cash assistance entitlement with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. With the creation of TANF, behavioral mandates such as time limits were imposed so that for the first time welfare recipients were limited to a maximum of five years of federal cash assistance in a lifetime. In order to determine the impact of time limits on children and families, the present paper explores time limits from both a theoretical and an empirical perspec­tive. After a careful review of both the theoretical work of Grogger et al. (1999, 2000) as well as four state-level evalua­tions, the paper finds that many of the studies reviewed understate the real impact of time limits on children and families across several measurable outcomes. The paper con­ cludes with recommendations for the upcoming welfare reau­thorization debate, including the abolition of time limits, or if abolition is not possible, to carefully apply best practice poli­cies such as earned income disregards, automatic Food Stamp and Medicaid enrollment (or at the very least, mandated outreach), and generous exemption and extension policies in all states.