Getting off welfare and working at any job is the best way to avoid poverty. Many families who leave welfare are losing income or not finding steady jobs at all. Extreme poverty is growing more common for children, especially those in female-headed and working families. Reports from homeless shelters show a sharp rises in single women who say they have left their children with relatives. The health of poor families is being jeopardized through increased family stress and domestic violence.
Qualitative data suggest partners of recipients sabotage mothers' attempts to enter the work force.
A New Social Contract Eliminate poverty, violence and unequal distribution of wealth and power. Federal law and regulations should maintain protections against displacing workers with workfare participants. Use TANF block grant kinds and state dollars to provide rental assistance for families moving from welfare to work. Caseworkers should be trained so that they are adequately prepared to identify barriers to employment, help parents obtain appropriate services and benefits, and avoid imposing erroneous sanctions. Increase the minimum wage until full-time work will lift a family of three above the poverty line, and index the minimum wage so that inflation no longer erodes its value.