{
  "id": "RL31508",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31508",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101325,
      "date": "2002-07-08",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:07:16.305941",
      "title": "Child Welfare and TANF Implementation: Recent Findings",
      "summary": "This report examines recent research findings about Temporary Assistance for Needy Families\n(TANF) implementation as it has affected the nation's child welfare system. The nation's program\nof cash aid for needy families with children (TANF) and its program to protect and care for children\nwho are abused or neglected (child welfare services) are linked by history and share some of the\nsame clients who have similar service needs. Assessing the full significance of the 1996 welfare\nreform law ( P.L. 104-193 ) to the child welfare system is complicated by the 1997 enactment of the\nAdoption and Safe Families Act ( P.L. 105-89 ), which made direct and major changes to the child\nwelfare system, and by the fact that TANF implementation generally occurred during a strong\neconomy. \n  Some child advocates were concerned that 1996 welfare reform initiatives -- including time\nlimits, family cap policies, and work requirements -- might harm children and/or place new strains\non the child welfare system. Research on the effect of TANF implementation has not produced\nconclusive findings. Changes in the size of the child welfare caseload have not been attributed to\nwelfare reform, although certain work requirements may increase the incidence of child neglect.\n  Welfare reform also changed specific child welfare funding streams and renewed calls for\nstronger collaboration between child welfare and cash aid programs. Here too the evidence of an\neffect on the child welfare system is inconclusive. Greater collaboration has occurred in some\nlocations and the flexible funding of TANF, combined with a strong economy and rapidly declining\ncash assistance caseload, meant new resources became available for child welfare services in some\nstates. Child welfare administrators are concerned, however, that because this money is not\ndedicated to their agencies it may not always be available. Further, the 1996 welfare reform\ncontinues to base eligibility for federal foster care and adoption assistance on whether the family a\nchild is removed from was (or would be) eligible for cash aid as it existed in prior law (Aid to\nFamilies with Dependent Children, AFDC). This increased the complexity of determining eligible\nfederal foster care and adoption assistance costs and, as the 1996 income and resource standards\nbecome dated, might diminish federal child welfare funds by establishing a diminishing pool of\nchildren eligible for federally reimbursable assistance.\n  Finally, some child welfare advocates have also been concerned that children in families where\nno adult is receiving a TANF cash benefit (\"child-only\" cases) receive the necessary support,\nservices and protection they require. The percentage of child-only cases has grown since enactment\nof welfare reform, although the actual number of these families being served has declined. Some\nstates have used TANF funds to enact programs specific to the needs of child-only families, and\nmany require involvement of child welfare agencies to access these new supports.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL31508",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy"
  ]
}