Welfare Reform—The First Eight Years - Support Services

Because of the additional services offered, overall state spending on welfare efforts has actually increased. According to the National Governors' Association (NGA), states are spending significantly more on child care and other support services to help people find and keep jobs. Providing child care is a significant aid in getting low-income families into the workforce. The number of children receiving subsidized child care doubled between 1996 and 2000.

However, some families leaving welfare for work have turned to unlicensed, informal types of child care. This type of care is often lower quality than regulated care. In addition, many eligible families are not receiving child care, in some cases because of complex application processes.

In order to help those leaving welfare get to their jobs, asset levels for automobile ownership have been increased in most states. In addition, several states are using TANF funds to develop strategies to provide transportation assistance to low-income persons. Delaware provides information about public transportation, off-hour transportation services, transitional transportation in areas not served by public transit, van pools and vehicle ownership programs in rural areas, and reverse commuting routes to suburban industrial sites. The State of Kentucky has established the Human Service Transportation Delivery Network, a collaborative effort with transportation brokers, in order to ensure accessible, cost-effective transportation in all areas of the state for TANF and Medicaid recipients.

In Meeting the Demand: Hiring Patterns of Welfare Recipients in Four Metropolitan Areas (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2001), Harry J. Holzer and Michael A. Stoll reported on a survey of low-income and low-skilled persons in Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles. The survey found a mismatch between the FIGURE 10.4
Trend in combined federal and state expenditures, by type, 1997-2001
(In millions) location of most of the jobs and the job seekers. Most of the opportunities for low-skilled workers were in the suburbs, while the job candidates resided primarily in the inner cities. Nonetheless, the survey found a greater readiness on the part of employers in the central city to employ welfare recipients than employers in the suburbs.

Child Support

In 2001 the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program collected almost $19 billion for children, an increase of 42 percent from 1997.

Nearly 1.6 million paternities were established and acknowledged in 2001, an increase of 45 percent since 1996, when 1.1 million were established. The number of paternities established remained the same between 2000 and 2001. The enhanced efforts to establish paternities and enforce child support agreements are intended to serve as a disincentive for men to father children outside of marriage. In 2001, however, only three states experienced a decline in out-of-wedlock births, and the number of out-of-wedlock births rose by about seven percent between 1997 and 2001.