The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996: What Will It Mean for Children?

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511500114.002

2 - The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996: What Will It Mean for Children?

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2009

Brian L. Wilcox ,

Rebecca A. Colman and

Jennifer M. Wyatt

Edited by

Bette L. Bottoms ,

Margaret Bull Kovera and

Bradley D. McAuliff

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Brian L. Wilcox: Affiliation:
Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center on Children, Families, and the Law University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Rebecca A. Colman: Affiliation:
Doctoral candidate in the developmental psychology program University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jennifer M. Wyatt: Affiliation:
Doctoral candidate in developmental psychology University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Bette L. Bottoms: Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Margaret Bull Kovera: Affiliation:
Florida International University
Bradley D. McAuliff: Affiliation:
University of Nebraska, Lincoln

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Summary

In 1991, presidential candidate Bill Clinton promised to “end welfare as we know it.” With the enthusiastic support of a Republican-controlled Congress, President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in August 1996, thereby effectively carrying out his promise. This legislation fundamentally transformed the nature of the cash welfare program that had been created in 1935 in response to the economic hardships brought about by the Great Depression, replacing a guaranteed entitlement program with a time-limited benefit.

A policy shift of this magnitude raises many questions, but a central concern of many policy analysts and researchers has been the implications of the new welfare system for children in recipient families and in families who may have received welfare benefits under the old law but are now or soon will be excluded from participation. In this chapter we will briefly describe the nature of this policy transformation and review research that offers a glimpse at the potential consequences of these changes for children in low-income families. Additionally, we will briefly describe the work currently in progress on a number of fronts that may provide scholars and policy makers with the data necessary to discern the impact of welfare reform on the well-being of children in low-income families.

Type: Chapter
Information: Children, Social Science, and the Law , pp. 15 - 50

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511500114.002 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2002

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