TANF child-only cases in California: Barriers to self-sufficiency and well-being

Abstract

Since the United States implemented Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), or 'welfare reform,' the number of assistance cases without an adult receiving aid has risen dramatically. In states like California, these child-only cases now constitute the majority of all TANF cases. Despite this increase, existing research sheds little light on the composition of child-only caseloads and the status of the adults and children in such cases. Drawing on county administrative data and interviews with 143 parents associated with child-only cases in five California counties, this paper identifies both the demographics of the child-only caseload in these sites and the major barriers to employment that parents in sanctioned and timed-out child-only cases face. These include human capital, health, and family issues, in addition to other obstacles. The data suggest that, despite functioning as one administrative entity, CalWORKs, California's TANF program, has transformed into two separate programs: a welfare-to-work program and a subsistence-level cash assistance program for some members of child-only families. Given this transformation, the paper closes by suggesting a research agenda for future child-only scholarship and argues for policy innovations to meet the needs of the expanding child-only caseload.

Logics of Redistribution

“…TANF expenditures for that year topped $5 billion (Department of Health and Human Services 2013). Although the program serves families with children, adult recipients are the main focus of TANF’s benefits, support programs, and regulations (Speiglman et al 2011). As of 2010, whites, blacks, and Hispanics constituted relatively equal proportions of the TANF beneficiary population (Department of Health and Human Services 2012).…”