Counseling Psychology and Welfare Reform

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A. Edwards ◽  
K. Chris Rachal ◽  
David N. Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Counseling Psychology ◽  
Mental Hygiene ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Psychological Disorders ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Individual Factors ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
The Past

The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRA) of 1996 marked the beginning of reforms in the welfare system that promise to affect more than 20 million people in the next 5 years. Although many agree that reform was needed, efforts may be based on misconceptions about welfare recipients. The transition from welfare to work may be problematic for many, as they face individual factors (e.g., psychological disorders) and contextual variables (e.g., lack of well-paying jobs). Counseling psychology traditionally has rested on the foundations of the vocational guidance, psychological testing, psychotherapy, and mental hygiene movements. The context of welfare reform offers unique opportunities and obvious responsibilities for the profession. This article discusses the philosophies and values of counseling psychology in the context of realities and misconceptions of the past welfare system and implications of the PRA. Recommendations for points of entry for counseling psychologists are made.

Welfare Reform and the Delivery of Welfare-to-Work Programs to AAPIs: What Works?

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Chow ◽  
Grace Yoo ◽  
Catherine Vu
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Work Program ◽  
What Works ◽  
One Stop ◽  
The Impact

The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) of 1996 has major implications for low-income Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) populations. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the research currently examining the impact of welfare reform on AAPI recipients and the welfare-to-work services available to this population. This article highlights AAPI participation and their timing-out rates in California’s CalWORKs program and their barriers to transitioning to work. Four welfare-to-work program models and recommendations are presented to illustrate strategies that can be used to address the unique needs of AAPI in order to alleviate their high risk for timing-out: one-stop-shops, transitional jobs programs, providing comprehensive and family focused services, and additional research and evaluation of programs specific to assisting the AAPI population on CalWORKs.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-78
Author(s):  
Alain Joffe
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Collateral Damage ◽  
Dependent Children ◽  
Free Riders ◽  
Reform Debate

As the welfare-reform debate begins to boil, the place to begin is with an elemental fact: no child in America asked to be here. Each was summoned into existence by the acts of adults. And no child is going to be spiritually improved by being collateral damage in a bombardment of severities targeted at adults who may or may not deserve more severe treatment from the welfare system. Phil Gramm says welfare recipients are people "in the wagon" who ought to get out and "help the rest of us pull." Well. Of the 14 million people receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children, 9 million are children. Even if we get all these free-riders into wee harnesses, the wagon will not move much faster.

Comparing Drug Use between Welfare-Receiving Arrestees and Non-Welfare-Receiving Arrestees

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
George S. Yacoubian ◽  
Ronald J. Peters ◽  
Blake J. Urbach ◽  
Regina J. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Illegal Drug ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Poverty Level ◽  
Reform Policy ◽  
Illegal Drug Use ◽  
Urine Specimens

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) symbolized a comprehensive change to the nation's welfare system. Despite several provisions within PRWORA that focus on the use of illegal drugs, few studies have attempted to identify the prevalence of illegal drug use among welfare recipients. Moreover, no scholarly works have compared rates of drug use in welfare-receiving populations to those of non-welfare-receiving populations with an objective measure of drug use. In the current study, urine specimens were collected from 1,572 arrestees interviewed through Houston's Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program in 1999. Drug positive rates are compared between welfare-receiving arrestees ( n = 116), non-welfare receiving arrestees living below the poverty level ( n = 539), and non-welfare receiving arrestees living above the poverty level ( n = 917). Welfare-receiving arrestees were more likely to be female, older, less educated, and to test positive for opiates and benzodiazepines than the other subgroups. Implications for welfare reform policy are discussed in light of the current findings.

Mental Health Implications of Welfare Reform and Florida's WAGES Program

2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-39
Author(s):  
Angela Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Welfare Program ◽  
Health Implications ◽  
Children In Poverty ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Tremendous Challenge

The Federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996 set in motion changes to the welfare system which represent a tremendous challenge not only for the states as implementers of this reform, but also for the children and families who are directly affected by the new law. The National Center for Children in Poverty has called our attention to the fact that while two-thirds of the recipients of the former welfare program were children, these new ‘reform’ programs tend to concentrate on adult jobs, adult work, and adult self-sufficiency.

Job Access and Reverse Commuting Initiatives in California: Review and Assessment

2003 ◽  
Vol 1859 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Cervero ◽  
Yu-Hsin Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
San Bernardino County ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Santa Cruz ◽  
The Past ◽  
San Bernardino ◽  
Job Access ◽  
San Mateo County ◽  
Former Welfare Recipients

A wide array of initiatives supporting job access and reverse commuting has been introduced in California over the past 5 years. Experiences were reviewed in five areas: schedule extensions, new fixed bus routes, shuttle services, user-side assistance, and automobile loan programs. Schedule extensions have provided much-valued mobility for the poor, but at high costs. New bus routes have been most productive when operating over long distances and delivering inner-city patrons to concentrated job hubs. Door-to-door shuttle services have mainly supplemented fixed bus routes and in some instances have been used to train former welfare recipients how to drive. Santa Cruz County has been a leader in crafting client-based programs that provide a menu of mobility options from which unique programs are custom designed to meet the job access needs of individuals. Automobile loan initiatives have been controversial; statistical evidence from San Bernardino County and case experiences from San Mateo County indicate that automobiles have aided Welfare-to-Work transitions.

Suggestions for Consideration by the Welfare Reform Working Group

1994 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-22
Author(s):  
Janet Fitchen
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Rural People ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Rural Welfare ◽  
Urban Issues

Deteriorating poverty and the need for an improved welfare system are not just urban issues, but have a significant rural dimension as well. 1. Rural poverty, while less noticed than inner-city poverty, is a persistent and growing problem that should not be overlooked in current efforts at welfare reform. 2. Since rural poverty is different from inner-city poverty, new welfare policy and programs must include specifically designed versions appropriate for implementation in rural areas. 3. Because rural poverty varies around the nation, rural-appropriate strategies must allow latitude for adaptation to particular regional and local conditions. 4. To be effective in helping rural welfare recipients move off and remain off public assistance, a reformed welfare system must accommodate their special problems and needs, and build on the strengths of rural people and places.

Getting to Work and Other Places the Poor Have to Go

2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Beverly Ward ◽  
Rosemary Mathias
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
State Level ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Major Barrier ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Board Of Regents ◽  
Care Training ◽  
Transportation Research

Lack of reliable transportation is a major barrier to linking current welfare recipients with job opportunities. Both private vehicles and public transportation play key roles in accessing jobs. Local investments in public transportation vary significantly from area to area, resulting in disparities of what level of investment is required to ensure that adequate transportation is available for those who need it. Even in communities well-served by public transportation, current services may be inadequate for providing transportation for former welfare recipients joining the work force, especially when work transportation is linked to the need to access child care, training, education, and other services. Based on extensive work carried out by anthropologists at the USF Center for Urban Transportation Research, this presentation covers two main issues: (1) an overview of the Florida WAGES program and of efforts pertaining to welfare to work and access to jobs in other states; (2) the extent to which WAGES and public transportation programs are integrated and coordinated at the local and state level in Florida. The research was funded from the Center's base operating funds provided by the Florida Board of Regents.

From Welfare to Work: Has Welfare Reform Worked?

2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 699-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeraj Kaushal ◽  
Robert Kaestner
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Welfare To Work

Diverse trajectories between 2011 and 2016

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Patrick
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Work Support ◽  
Paid Employment ◽  
Everyday Reality ◽  
Research Period

This chapter provides an update on nine of the participants from the research, who were interviewed for a fourth time in the summer of 2016. These interviews – which stretched the whole research period to five years – provided an opportunity to explore most recent responses to welfare reform, and levels of engagement with paid employment. They reveal diverse trajectories, which all seem to pivot around the central place of employment in individual lives (whether as an aspiration or everyday reality). These various trajectories are explored, and key themes to emerge from the 2016 interviews detailed. These encompass the shortcomings with welfare-to-work support, the persistence of poverty, responses to Poverty Porn and dynamic experiences of benefits stigma.

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