Children in these families face many of the problems faced by all children in poor families. Many have health and emotional problems. There is little involvement with the absent parent and they report limited use of high quality child care. Almost 90 percent of the families say they have enough to eat, but many former recipients worry about having enough food and 13 percent report they run out of food before they have money to buy more. Many leavers still participate in government programs, including Food Stamps.
Many families rely on friends or family for support.
Many also receive child support but the amount of money involved is modest. As a result, hardship is still common. The study used both statistical data and telephone interviews to gather information and follow people who left TANF voluntarily between January 1999 and June 2000. It was conducted by the Applied Research Center at Georgia State University, Atlanta.