...testing as a precursor for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). In the past years, most states have proposed drug screenings or some other source of drug testing for applicants of TANF. In 2009, there were over 20 states with a legislation proposal requiring that drug tests become a part of the eligibility process for public assistance programs and 12 states had similar proposals in 2010. None of the proposals have become laws due to the idea that the legislations were based off suspicion or random drug testing. This idea is at odds with the 2003 Michigan Court of Appeals case. Marchwinski v. Howard which ruled the subjecting all welfare applicants to drug testing without out any reason to believe that they were currently using or have recently used was not in alignment with our constitution (Newell, 2011). Currently, Oklahoma has a policy that is in accordance with the testing of welfare applicants, but that abides by the Marchwinski v. Howard case because it does not violate the rights of applicants and is not deemed unconstitutional. Oklahoma’s Policy 340:10-4-1. Mandatory Drug Screening Issued 12-5-12 States: (a) Per Section 230.52 of Title 56 of the Oklahoma Statues, adult parents, or needy caretakers who apply for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance are required to be screened for illegal use of a controlled substance or substances. TANF child only cases and minor parent parents under the age of 18 are exempt...
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...TANF The welfare system was created to help poor men, women, and children who are in need of financial and medical assistance. Over the years, welfare has become a way of life for our people. Currently, the government is in the process of reforming the welfare system. The welfare reform system’s objective was to get people off welfare and start back working. The goal was to move people from dependency to self-sufficiency but problems to the new welfare reform system have occurred. Some believe that, "participation in a welfare-to-work program might create new problems for children by adding strains to family life or by exposing children to poor substitute care arrangements for policies that design welfare-to-work programs that pursue the dual goals of economic self-sufficiency for families and healthy development children.http://www.cyfernet.org/welfare/roleextprog/current.html. "Welfare policies aimed at improving family circumstances for both children and parents must not make the error of focusing solely on parents; if the intention is to enhance the immediate and long-term development of both generations within the family, then policies must differentiate between youth and their parents."http://www.cyfernet.org/welfare/roleextprog/four_themes.html. These issues have brought about numerous debates. These debates have focused on the welfare reform system. Pros and cons of this new system have been debated, focusing on the welfare of the child, the parent, the employer...
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...Introduction TANF The Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program was created under the 1996 welfare reform law known as the Personal Responsibility and work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (Falk, 2014). TANF is funded by a $16.5 billion-per-year basic federal block grant. Each state is also required to contribute at least $10.4 billion under a maintenance-of-effort (MOE) requirement (Schott, 2012). TANF primary purpose is to fund a wide range of benefits and services for low-income families with children. These services include cash assistances, child care, and services for children who have been, or are at risk of being, abused and neglected Clientele The requirements to receive TANF benefits vary from state to state. Eligibility...
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...TANF has been a growing act since 1996 and has been changing and developing ever since the begining. The act has helped families and by having state to state help, the act has better evolved. The act may have failed in a couple ways but it had “strong work requirements, a performance bonus to reward states for moving welfare recipients into jobs, state maintenance of effort requirements, and some supports for families in moving them from welfare to work, including increased funding for child care and guaranteed medical coverage” (Social Work Speaks 2015-2017). While doing research and interviewing my mother, I have learned that the program does not require a lot from any person(s) but does expect people and families to use this to help better...
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...SSI and TANF For this assignment I will be explaining the similarities and differences of SSI and TANF. But first let’s discuss what these policies are and what they stand for. “SSI (Supplemental Security Income) is a government program that provides stipends to low-income people who are either aged (65 or older), blind, or disabled.” (Social Security, 2015) Though managed by the Social Security Administration, SSI is not financed by the SSA. The U.S. Treasury are the ones who fund the SSI. “TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) program provides temporary financial assistance for pregnant women and families with one or more dependent children”. (Trends in the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income Disability Programs, 2015) TANF delivers economic assistance to help wage for non-medical expenses such as food, shelter, and utilities....
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...TANF and the Importance of Welfare Reform The idea of welfare reform is not a new concept. The federal government is responsible for funding subsidy programs for low income Americans. One of these programs is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). According to the Office of Family Assistance (1999) the TANF program is intended to assist low income families to achieve self sufficiency. It goes on to explain that states receive block grants for which they are to plan and initiate programs that accomplish one of the purposes of the TANF program. The four purposes of the TANF program are to: * Provide assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes. * Reduce the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage. * Prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies. * Encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families (Office of Family Assistance, 1999). On the surface, these four purposes seem very competent in promoting the idea that being on welfare permanently is not the idea of the assistance program. However, federal involvement in welfare has only made things worse, complicating matters by the waste of taxpayers' money while doing very little to solve the problem of long-term poverty. The policy pathway being proposed in this memorandum is that the federal government should remove their role in TANF and all related welfare programs and leave these programs to state...
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...policies and new initiatives kept people from falling into poverty; these programs reduced the severity of poverty. TANF was created by the 1996 welfare reform law to replace AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). Under the TANF structure, the federal government provides a block grant to the states, which use these funds to operate their own programs. States can use TANF dollars in ways designed to meet any of the four purposes set out in federal law, which are to: “(1) provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives; (2) end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; (3) prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual numerical goals for preventing and reducing the incidence of these pregnancies; and (4) encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.” This paper will examine the TANF program from inception to determine how effective the program has performed. REVIEW OF LITERATURE TANF’s early years witnessed dramatic declines in the number of families receiving cash assistance, and a great increases in the share of single mothers working, especially those with less than a high school education. But since then, nearly all of the employment gains have disappeared, and TANF caseloads have responded only modestly to increased need during this...
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...States receive block grants to design and work with programs that accomplish one of the purposes of the TANF program. TANF’s sole purpose is to provide assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes, reduce the reliance of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage, prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies, encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.(Administration for Children and Families) Medicaid is a federal and state program that helps with medical costs for people with limited income and resources.Each state has a different set of rules for eligibility and applying for the Medicaid program. If you qualify for Medicaid in your state, you automatically qualify for extra help paying for your Medicare prescription drug coverage. To qualify for the...
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...This meant in other words, that each state would receive a certain amount of money for the program. The main points of TANF was that it would only give you a limit of five years on the extent of time a family member with an adult can collect the aid provided to with federal funds, adaptability on program design, and work participation percentage demands which states accommodate. The annual funding for the TANF Program was about 16.5 billion dollars. Before the TANF program was ever created there was the AFDC which was established by the Social Security Act of 1935. The program was put into place to assist with cash welfare payments for children who have been neglected care because of absent parent/parents, and unemployed or deceased caretaker. The AFDC program did not just involve the fifty states but also Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. Many states started receiving waivers to enforce many “welfare-to- work rules”. After that various types of binding welfare to work programs were checked in...
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...Needy Families (TANF) is one of the federal assistance programs designed to help families with children providing cash and housing assistance. The cash benefit is often referred to as “welfare”. Welfare recipients are often portrayed as lazy, lacking in ambition, and unwilling to take responsibility for themselves (Brady, 2013). When the recipients of welfare receive the cash and housing benefits is it truly helping or hindering them? Doug Brady states, “the current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work.” This raises the question of should welfare regulations be changed or not? The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, was known as the “welfare reform”. TANF ended the much despised Depression-era federal entitlement to cash benefits for needy single mothers, replacing it with short term, work oriented programs designed and run by individual states (Hymowitz, 2006). Under TANF, the federal government provides a block grant to the states, which use these funds to operate their own programs. In order to receive federal funds, states must also spend some of their own dollars on programs for needy family. (Schott, 2012) Congress has provided states with $16.5 billion per year in fixed federal TANF funding to cover cash benefits primarily targeted to needy families (Brown, 2013). TANF is still one of the most expensive government programs, and participation in TANF remains highly...
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...Summary: TANF stands for Temporary Assistance to needy families. TANF is a program designed to help needy families gain the support they need in order to get back on their feet. There are four parts to TANF. 1. To provide assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes. 2. Reduce the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage. 3. To prevent and reduce the incidence of out of wedlock pregnancies. Encourage the formation and maintenance of two parent families. To qualify for TANF there are many requirements; you must be a U.S. citizen, you must have a social security number, you must have a child under the age of 18 living at home, and if you are pregnant you qualify the last month of your pregnancy. There is a maximum of 60 months of TANF assistance in one’s lifetime. Evaluation: I was glad to write a paper on TANF so that I could learn more exact details on it. I was not too familiar with TANF because of the recent changes. When I was younger my family was receiving benefits from TANF but a few things have changed since then. I think it is a good thing that there is a limit of 60 months. That makes the program more of an aid to help people to get on their feet rather than to just be dependent on TANF forever. I also think that it is cool that a mother who is in her last month of pregnancy can receive TANF benefits. TANF is a good resource for needy families all over...
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...eligibility requirement for welfare recipients who receive cash under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The economical ramifications that pertain to this situation include the wants and needs of individuals versus the limited resources of the funds by taxpayers. Sources, data, and popular opinion will show that this requirement will be extremely beneficial for the American taxpayers by saving money and refusing to subsidize the drug habits of individuals who receive government assistance. Scarcity In 2011, over 4 million people received cash assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (“ACF”, 2011, para. 8). These numbers do not include Food Stamps, Medicaid, or other forms of government funds; this is simple cash assistance. Ideally, all hungry and unemployed individuals would have the resources to provide for themselves and their families. However, in this economic downturn, more and more individuals are reaching out for assistance and it has become taxing on our government resources. In 1997, the U.S. Government overhauled the welfare programs known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), and Emergency Assistance (EA) (“ACF”, 2011, para. 4). Under this reform, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program was developed. TANF was designed to help families discover self-sufficiency. The primary goals were to assist families in providing...
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...States h Iowa State University, United States i University of Texas at Austin, United States Available online 10 January 2007 Abstract This analysis summarizes trends in family economic well-being from five non-experimental, longitudinal welfare-to-work studies launched following the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). The studies include a sizable group of parents and other caregivers who received TANF at the point of sample selection or shortly thereafter, and share a wide range of similar measures of economic well-being. This analysis provides descriptive information on how these families are faring over time. Our results confirm what has been found by previous studies. Many families remain dependent on public benefits, and are either poor or near-poor, despite gains in some indicators of economic well-being. We caution that these aggregate statistics may mask important heterogeneity among families. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: PRWORA; TANF; Welfare reform ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 608 263...
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...In August of 1992, former President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) into law, which replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Program with what is now the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The new legislation rolled back much of what the National Welfare Rights Organization and welfare rights activists fought to reform; it deepened the stigma women on welfare face by actively but subtly targeting poor women of color. A reactionary response to the growing number of “undeserving” women of color and immigrants on the welfare role, PRWORA calls for stricter eligibility requirements and ultimately aims to reduce TANF’s total recipient pool...
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...regulation to reduce the abuse of applying for the assistance for unhealthy reasons. I am fortunate enough to observe both sides of the families that receive assistance in my career field. The bill I carefully chose is about the welfare that exists in Texas. In this bill, it focuses on performing drug screening to be eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. A brief overview of the bill According to (King, 2014), the provision of the bill states the eligibility for drug screening and testing. The policies are influenced by the commission of Health and Human Services. A marihuana and controlled substance screening is the initial part the application process for the benefit. In fact, if the applicant for TANF is positive for drug use, the individual is ineligible for a year and possibly 36 months. Depending on the offenses, it will determine the ineligibility of TANF. After three denials because of drugs or controlled substances, the applicant will permanently be ineligible for TANF. Because the main caregiver cannot apply for the benefit, a protective payee can apply for TANF to support a child or children that are in need of the assistance. If there are no eligible payee, the commission will appoint one. The sponsors of the bill and any committees that was in the legislature Unfortunately, there were no sponsors on this bill. The only representation the bill received was the support of the Health and Human Services that were associated with...
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