National NOW Times >> Spring 2010  >> Article

Welfare Reauthorization Opens Door to Real Reform

Later this year Congress will consider reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, presenting an important opportunity to bring about welfare reform that truly helps poor women and their families.

In the mid-1990s, conservatives vilified women receiving public assistance, calling them "welfare queens" and claiming they were "living off the dole." They trumpeted TANF as just the solution to push such women into the workforce. NOW and its allies organized against this punishing policy, which we feared would trap women in low-paying jobs, unable to move out of poverty and support their families.

Many low-income women did find jobs -- during what were then economic boom times. But TANF restricted recipients' ability to get a high school diploma, enroll in a vocational training program or finish college. Child care subsidies were inadequate, and transportation support and access to health care were limited. A significant proportion of TANF recipients are women with disabilities or those caring for children with disabilities -- serious factors that limit their ability to earn a living, yet TANF assistance is only available for 60 months.

NOW successfully convinced welfare policy-makers that violence plays a destructive role in the lives of many poor families and should be addressed. Our efforts resulted in the adoption of the Family Violence Option (FVO), which provides counseling, safety, legal and other assistance to eligible TANF beneficiaries. Unfortunately, not all states carried through in providing these critical FVO supports.

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), a strong ally in Congress, has introduced a bill (H.R. 4978) strengthening TANF's anti-violence protections and making the program more accessible to domestic and sexual violence survivors. The bill requires better procedures to effectively screen and refer survivors to needed services. The bill makes FVO mandatory for states and requires the Department of Health and Human Services to study and report to Congress every four years on best state practices in assisting victims.

A new report by Legal Momentum and the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence based on interviews with service providers finds that violence survivors face a maze of bureaucratic barriers that prevent them from getting help to escape abuse. "Not Enough: What TANF Offers Family Violence Victims" details the lack of adequate screening, and the unrealistic expectation that survivors "prove" they have experienced violence in order to get a waiver from TANF work requirements. A majority of respondents in the survey identified the following ways to make TANF a more effective resource: increasing employment services that lead to a living wage, improving access to child care, and better training of TANF and child support enforcement workers on domestic violence.

With the economic recession and a skyrocketing unemployment rate, there is no question that millions of poor women and children are in desperate need. However, because of TANF's punitive features, it appears to be reaching only a minority of eligible families. Caseloads in 22 states have actually declined during the recession, and a modest national increase in TANF was out of sync with the dramatic increase in food stamps.

A new Institute for Policy Studies report, "Battered by the Storm: How the Safety Net is Failing Americans and How to Fix It," offers a comprehensive relief plan that should be a guide to a realistic and effective reform of TANF when Congress takes up the reauthorization measure. NOW promises to be there working for real reform that truly helps poor women escape poverty.