Essays on Welfare Reform

The purpose of welfare reform was to move recipients from welfare to work and to reduce dependency on government assistance. The 1996 welfare reform law, also known as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), was a major overhaul of the U.S. welfare system. The law ended the federal entitlement to cash assistance for families with children and replaced it with a block grant to states for a temporary assistance program, now known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The law also included a number of work requirements and time limits for welfare recipients.The overall goal of welfare reform was to reduce dependency on government assistance and encourage recipients to move from welfare to work. The law was designed to accomplish this by providing states with more flexibility in how they operate their welfare programs, as well as by instituting work requirements and time limits for recipients.While the 1996 welfare reform law was successful in reducing the number of people receiving welfare, it has been criticized for not doing enough to help recipients find work and for not providing adequate support to those who are able to find work. In addition, the law has been criticized for putting too much emphasis on work requirements and not enough on other factors, such as childcare and transportation, that can make it difficult for recipients to work.