What is afdc program

States defined "need," set their own benefit levels, established within federal limitations income and resource limits, and administered the program or supervised its administration. States were entitled to unlimited federal funds for reimbursement of benefit payments, at "matching" rates that were inversely related to state per capita income.

States were required to provide aid to all persons who were in classes eligible under federal law and whose income and resources were within state-set limits. During the s, the federal government increasingly used its authority under section of the Social Security Act to waive portions of the federal requirements under AFDC. This allowed states to test such changes as expanded earned income disregards, increased work requirements and stronger sanctions for failure to comply with them, time limits on benefits, and expanded access to transitional benefits such as child care and medical assistance.

As a condition of receiving waivers, states were required to conduct rigorous evaluations of the impacts of these changes on the welfare receipt, employment, and earnings of participants. The proposal failed because it alienated both conservatives and liberals, the latter fearing that the low level of support guaranteed would create a ceiling over rather than a floor under welfare benefits.

The bulk of the changes to AFDC during its year life worsened conditions for recipients, however. Several legislative efforts to increase collection of child support payments in order to reduce AFDC expenditures have required recipients to cooperate with the state in establishing paternity of children born outside marriage and in obtaining support payments. The most important addition to the welfare system was Medicaid, providing medical insurance for the needy. Ironically, this program locked many recipients into the welfare system because, in the U.

The original purpose of ADC was to allow mothers to stay home with their children, but starting in the s the system was reconfigured in various ways to push mothers into the labor force. For some time many states allowed adult welfare recipients to attend school as a form of work, since education tends to reduce welfare dependence over time, but this provision was steadily squeezed out.

In general, workfare was unsuccessful because the wages that most welfare recipients could earn were not adequate to raising children in safety and health. But by evaluating success in terms of declining welfare caseloads instead of declining child poverty, these welfare-to-work programs led to repeal of the entire AFDC program in McMahon, F. Hurley, U. Shirley, U. Alcala, U.

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