Comparing the New (TANF) with the Old (AFDC) - Afdc-up

As of October 1, 1990, states that operated AFDC were required to offer AFDC to children in two-parent families who were needy because one or both of their parents were unemployed. This program was called AFDCUP (unemployed parent). Eligibility for AFDC-UP was limited to families in which the principal wage earner was unemployed but had a history of working. States that did not have an unemployed parent program as of September 26, 1988, could limit benefits under the AFDC-UP program to as few as six months in any thirteen-month period. AFDC-UP was intended to eliminate one of the major criticisms of the AFDC program. Previously, recipients were eligible for AFDC in many cases only when there was no father in the house. This contributed to many poor fathers' leaving home as a survival strategy in order to permit their families to get welfare support. Many observers believed this weakened the structure of numerous poor families.

After years of criticism and suggested modifications, the controversial 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PL 104-193) replaced the AFDC program with the TANF block-grant program. The rest of this chapter discusses the differences between the two programs.