Writer Welfare reform wasn't the train wreck that cities feared it would be. But it's still an uncertainty that undermines confidence in the future both for families and entire cities. Welfare rolls are down, but many who leave them have not been freed from poverty. People escape welfare just to return months later.
Families can suffer while parents struggle with low-paying jobs.
According to a recent comprehensive evaluation of the program, welfare recipients aren't just finding jobs but a better quality of life for themselves and their families. After 60 years, Congress and President Clinton ended welfare as we knew it when they enacted welfare reform in 1996. Welfare reform was sold as a way of not only saving tax money but, more importantly, saving people from the cycle of dependency and poverty. The reforms ended the practice of families passing welfare from generation to generation. A study by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corp., a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group, found that Minnesota's program increased employment and income, decreased domestic violence, improved children's school performance and stabilized and increased marriages.