Child Well-Being at the Outset of Welfare Reform: An Overview of the Nation and 13 States

law details numerous negative consequences associated with out-of-wedlock births, single-parent families, and welfare receipt that helped motivate the 1996 overhaul. With this law, Congress ended the existing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). TANF is intended to (1) provide assistance for needy families to care for their children; (2) end welfare dependence by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; (3) reduce the rate of nonmarital births; and (4) increase the proportion of two-parent families. Many of the family characteristics that welfare reform is intended to change, such as poverty, parental employment, nonmarital birth, marriage, and welfare dependence, are also likely to affect the wellbeing of children living in low-income families. For that reason it is important to track changes in child well-being as welfare reform progresses. Here we examine state-level data on social, economic, and child well-being measures at the outset of welfare reform. The 13 states highlighted here are those being studied in depth as a part of the Assessing the New Federalism project.