Fathers of Children in W-2 Families: Results of an Analysis of Administrative and Survey Data

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 made radical changes to the way the nation provides income support to low-income families. The main program that provided cash assistance to single-parent families for over 60 years, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), was replaced with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). TANF allows states to design their own programs, has a focus on work, and establishes a lifetime limit on cash assistance. Because many TANF recipients have limited human capital, their earnings may always be below the poverty level. Because cash assistance is time-limited, and earnings are likely to be low, other sources of income have become more critical to the long-term economic well-being of these women and their children. The legislation that created TANF recognized this, and also included substantial changes to the child support system designed to increase the amount of support that nonresident fathers pay. Part of the motivation for the child support reform was a hope that some single mothers would be able to rely on a combination of support from the nonresident fathers and their own earnings in place of cash assistance. Another motivation was a sense that some nonresident fathers were not providing what they could for their children, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.