Welfare and Child Care: The Intricacies of Competing Social Values

Welfare and Child Care: The Intricacies of Competing Social Values DBLIC commitment to the sup- P port and protection of indigent mothers and their children has taken many forms over the course of this cen- tury. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was once a welfare program that focused on children's needs. Yet the program has been trans- formed over time. The approach to welfare in the early 19008 reflected strong social values that encouraged women to remain at home and raise their children. Now, as national values shift toward a call for welfare recipients to work, much of the original concern for children has diminished. Although the success of a welfare-to-work pro- gram depends considerably on the appropriate care and supervision of children, child care services under pre- sent welfare strategies are not designed specifically to meet the needs of chil- dren and families. This transformation in AFDC policy is, in part, a reflection of changing values in American culture. Values have been altered in response to shift- ing demographic patterns within the welfare population and to different beliefs about what activities are ap- propriate and reasonable for all families. These changes, however, have not pro- gressed smoothly. Rather, they are representative of competing ethics within the American community that support home life on the one hand and work on the other and that have played themselves out on the welfare popu- lation. Indeed, some of the policies are themselves contradictory, mirroring the ambivalence within society at large. Policies defining AFDC receipt paral- lel contemporary values that encourage work outside the home for both men and women. This article takes a brief look at the historical development of AFDC in an attempt to clarify the ideo- logical shift that has taken place. women without a husband or other provider would be able to raise their children in their own homes. Child care Welfare reform has been a subject of was the overriding feature of the pen- heated debate for years. The Family sion policy. The role of the woman as Support Act of 1988 is the latest at- mother, nurturer, and child rearer was tempt at overhauling the American central to the development of mothers' welfare system. The act represents a pensions (Rothman, 1978); the policy significant departure, both program- reflected these functions. Women's em- matically andphilosophically, from the ployment outside the home was seen as original intent of such welfare pro- adversely affecting children. Social gramsasAid toFamilies withDepen- worker Grace Abbott (1938) said that dent Children (AFDC). The early mothers' pensions J ill Duerr Berrick approach encouraged women to remain constituted public recognition by the states at home and raise their children, but that the contribution of the unskilled or theemphasis is nowon movingadult semi-skilled mothers in their own homes welfare recipients into the labor market. exceeded their earnings outside the home This article provides a briefhistorical and that it was in the public interest to con- serve their child rearing functions. (p. 229) development ofAFDC, along withspe- cificpolicy recommendations that ad- dress thechildcare needs ofthe work- Although much discretion was used in qualifyingwomen for mothers' pensions, ing AFDC population. this was the principal means of survival for many families facing hardship. Focus on Families: Government's Response to Poverty In the early part of the 20th century, women who raised their children alone because of the death of, abandonment by, or divorce from their husbands were viewed as one of the groups classifiedas the deserving poor (Leiby, 1978). These women were caught in circum- stances beyond their control. Many of them were unable to meet the demands of both work and home life. The social attitude toward this group was not to stigmatize and punish, but rather, pri- marily, to aid and assist. Support for these women came under the rubric of mothers' pensions or widows' pen- sions. These pensions were established at the state and county level and pro- vided a minimum income for families in need. Pensions were enacted so that Aid to Dependent Children: The Social Security Act of 1935 The values that were articulated dur- ing the establishment of mothers' pen- sions also were prominent in the de- velopment of Title IV of the Social Security Act of 1935. This historic shift in domestic policy ushered in a new model for federal action on behalf of poor people. Spurred by an economic crisis, mass unemployment, and social unrest (Cloward & Piven, 1971),the Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) program was one of several policies initiated under the Social Security Act. Families who met the programmatic qualifica- tions and whose income and assets did not exceed a specified amount were eligible for assistance. One can see the antecedent of the mothers' pension program in the ADC CCC Code: 0037-8046/91 $1.00 © 1991, National Association of Social Workers, Inc.