Some of the mothers profiled gain new skills and confidence and are able to leave welfare for the first real jobs of their lives. Others sink further into poverty, become homeless, or lose their children to the foster care system. Their moving stories put a human face on the most significant piece of social legislation of the last six decades. By profiling families living in Wisconsin, Florida, and New Jersey states that implemented their own reforms before the passage of the federal bill the program offers the public a preview of welfare reform as it unfolds throughout the rest of the country. Each of the states featured in the documentary has reduced its welfare caseload by imposing strict new rules which include work requirements, time limits, and special provisions for teen mothers.
Some states offer job training, education, child care subsidies, life skills classes, and more.
IT avoids pat answers, exploring the capacity of welfare reform to help as well as harm needy families. As the program reveals, the solutions to welfare dependency are as complex and diverse as the reasons people turn to welfare in the first place. For many long-term welfare recipients like Andrea Kraker of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, lack of education is the biggest obstacle to finding employment. In the winter of 1997, the documentary finds her living with her children in a homeless shelter after her welfare benefits have been reduced for non-compliance with Milwaukee's new work requirements. Wisconsin imposes stiff sanctions if welfare recipients fail to show up for work related activities or miss appointments with their case workers.