AFDC was an entitlement program that guaranteed benefits to all recipients whose income and resources were below state-determined eligibility levels. However, state-determined tests of financial need for cash assistance were subject to federal guidelines and limits.
How can I receive AFDC?
You may be eligible if you:
- Have children 18 or younger,
- Are pregnant and are due in less than 4 months; if you are under age 20 you may be eligible at any stage of pregnancy, and/or
- Are a caregiver for a child you are related to but who is not your biological or adopted child As a caregiver, you can apply for TAFDC for only the ...
What does AFDC stand for in health care?
Seal of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, which administered the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. Aid to Families with Dependent Children ( AFDC) was a federal assistance program in the United States in effect from 1935 to 1997, created by the Social Security Act (SSA) and administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provided financial assistance to children whose families had low or no income .
Why was AFDC changed to TANF?
transformed AFDC into the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, would eventually increase SSI participation, for two reasons. First, the new TANF work requirements and time limits could induce more AFDC/TANF recipients with disabilities to obtain SSI benefits. Second, the change from open-ended
What does AFDC stand for in economics?
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was established by the Social Security Act of 1935 as a grant program to enable states to provide cash welfare payments for needy children who had been deprived of parental support or care because their father or mother was absent from the home, incapacitated, deceased, or unemployed. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands operated an AFDC program.
What are two differences between AFDC and TANF?
Unlike AFDC, TANF is not an entitlement program. Because of this, there is no requirement that states aid, or apply uniform rules to, all families determined financially needy.
Why was AFDC discontinued?
But by evaluating success in terms of declining welfare caseloads instead of declining child poverty, these welfare-to-work programs led to repeal of the entire AFDC program in 1996.
What is the difference between ADC and AFDC?
The Social Security Act of 1935, which created Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) (subsequently renamed AFDC), gave authority to the states to set their own standard of need and benefit level (Abramovitz, 1996; Gordon, 1994).
What did the AFDC replace?
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), enacted in 1996, replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), which provided cash assistance to families with children experiencing poverty.
What is cash assistance?
Cash Assistance helps families meet their basic needs for well-being and safety and serves as their path to self-sufficiency. The Cash Assistance program provides temporary cash benefits and supportive services to the neediest of Arizona's children and their families.
Is there still welfare in the US?
Welfare programs in the United States provide assistance to low-income families, especially children living in poverty. The six major welfare programs are EITC, housing assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, and TANF. These welfare programs differ from entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security.
Who created the AFDC?
On August 22, 1996 President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (Public Law 104–193). PRWORA replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program that had been in existence for 60 years.
When was AFDC created?
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was a federal assistance program in the United States in effect from 1935 to 1997, created by the Social Security Act (SSA) and administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provided financial assistance to children whose families had low ...
Why was ADC changed to AFDC?
The name was changed by the 1962 amend- ments to Aid to Families with Dependent Children to reflect a broader social service orientation. Since this project covers the period 1950–67, we use the rather inelegant term ADC/AFDC for inclusiveness.
What replaced the AFDC program with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families quizlet?
PRWORA replaced AFDC with TANF and dramatically changed the way the federal government and states determine eligibility and provide aid for needy families.
How much cash assistance will I get in NY?
How much cash assistance you'll get in NY largely depends upon your family's income and size. New York pays a maximum of $789 a month to a family of three — one of the most generous among the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia.
What is an entitlement program?
Entitlement programs are either financed from Federal trust funds or paid out of the general revenues. Those paid out of the general revenues are income redistribution programs intended to address problems such as illness and poverty.
How long did AFDC recipients depend on education?
Education was a large factor in whether, or not, a recipient depended on AFDC assistance for more than five years. Of those who did depend on the aid, for more than five years, 63% did not have a high school education. Those who never married also used the aid for longer periods of time. The majority of the program recipients were single and uneducated.
What is the AFDC?
The Social Security Act established the Social Security that we are familiar with today, but it also included the AFDC, or Title IV of the Act, which was then simply called the Aid to Dependent Children (ADC). The outline for the ADC was written by two women, Grace Abbott and Katherine Lenroot, who were the directors of the U.S. Children's Bureau of the Department of Labor.
Does DSS deduct shelter hardship?
But working clients may not always qualify. To determine eligibility, DSS calculates a family's applied income and then deducts a “shelter hardship” (the family's shelter expenses divided by two) to come up with net adjusted income (NAI).
Can AFDC be counted as income?
AFDC recipients typically qualify for a credit, and the amount of the credit cannot be counted as income in AFDC income eligibility determination. In each of the two scenarios described, the families would qualify for the maximum credit.
What was the 30 and a third rule?
The year 1967 saw the establishment of the thirty-and-a-third rule, which allowed families to keep their first $30 earned along with one third of their income following the first $30 without the change affecting their eligibility for benefits. This and other factors led to a large increase in enrollment.
What is the man in the house rule?
Man-in-the-house rule. A number of states enacted so called " man-in-the-house" rules , which disqualified families if there was any adult male present in the household whatsoever. As Williams and Hardisty phrased it:
How much did the federal government pay for child support in 1994?
It provided a direct payment of $18 per month for one child, and $12 for a second child. In 1994, the average payment was $420/month. The federal government required contributions from individual states, and authorized state discretion to determine who received aid and in what amount.
What is the Seal of the United States Department of Health and Human Services?
Seal of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, which administered the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. Aid to Families with Dependent Children ( AFDC) was a federal assistance program in the United States in effect from 1935 to 1997, created by the Social Security Act ...
Why did the word "families with" come to the name?
The words "families with" were added to the name in 1962, partly due to concern that the program's rules discouraged marriage. The Civil Rights Movement and the efforts of the National Welfare Rights Organization in the 1960s expanded the scope of welfare entitlements to include black women. The welfare rolls racial demographics changed drastically.
When did AFDC replace TANF?
However, it was criticized for offering incentives for women to have children, and for providing disincentives for women to join the workforce. In July 1997 , AFDC was replaced by the more restrictive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
When did the AFDC start?
Starting in 1962, the Department of Health and Human Services allowed state-specific exemptions as long as the change was "in the spirit of AFDC" in order to allow some experimentation. By 1996 spending was $24 billion per year.
What is AFDC in Social Security?
For SSI purposes, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) refers to the payments made under the former Part A of Title IV of the Social Security Act except for payments made under the former section 406 (e) of Part A. (Payments under section 406 (e) are emergency assistance payments and the applicable instructions appear at SI 00830.405 .)
What is AFDC grant?
AFDC makes a payment to a family unit rather than an individual. The payment is frequently referred to as the "grant.". An individual who meets the eligibility requirements for both AFDC and SSI may choose the program under which he/she prefers to receive benefits.
What to do if you get AFDC information?
If AFDC information is obtained orally, ask for written confirmation of the information and adjudicate the case based on the oral information. No followup on this request is required.
Is an AFDC payment a cash payment?
An AFDC payment is always considered to be a cash payment, even if the AFDC agency makes the payment directly to the vendor. The presumed maximum value (PMV) rule ( SI 00835.300 ff.) does not apply to this income.
When did TANF start?
This legislation was effective October 1, 1996. States were required to have their TANF plans in effect ...
Is AFDC income for SSI?
Any AFDC payments received prior to the first AFDC termination date communicated orally by the State AFDC agency are income for SSI purposes. Any AFDC payments issued and received on or after the first AFDC termination date communicated orally by the State AFDC agency are not income for SSI purposes.
Why is the AFDC program called entitlement?
The old AFDC program is referred to as an entitlement program because it guaranteed benefits to anyone whose income was below a level determined by their state. AFDC was designed in the 1930s to help widows by paying families when a parent died, became disabled or deserted. In later decades, it was seen as encouraging single mothers to have children.
How does the government help needy families?
The U.S. federal government helps needy families by providing funds that allow states to make cash welfare payments to parents. The first program of this type was called Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), which was established under the Social Security Act of 1935. It was replaced in 1996 by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a program that places limits on how long an adult can collect benefits. Under TANF, the number of children receiving welfare benefits has decreased from 6.1 million in 1970 to 1.9 million in 2017.
What is AFDCUP?
This program was called AFDCUP (unemployed parent). Eligibility for AFDC-UP was limited to families in which the principal wage earner was unemployed but had a history of working. States that did not have an unemployed parent program as of September 26, 1988, could limit benefits under the AFDC-UP program to as few as six months in any thirteen-month period. AFDC-UP was intended to eliminate one of the major criticisms of the AFDC program. Previously, recipients were eligible for AFDC in many cases only when there was no father in the house. This contributed to many poor fathers' leaving home as a survival strategy in order to permit their families to get welfare support. Many observers believed this weakened the structure of numerous poor families.
How many people were receiving AFDC in 1962?
In 1962, 3.5 million Americans were receiving AFDC. Just five years later, in 1967, the number had grown to five million. Eligibility rules had been expanded. Poor, rural African-Americans who had often been denied benefits were moving to the cities, which added to urban poverty. Community-action groups and advocates for the needy were helping the poor get benefits for which they were eligible. Divorces were increasing, and more babies were being born outside marriage. All these factors contributed to the increase in AFDC recipients, as well as a growing concern about caseloads, their cost, and the characteristics of the recipients.
What are the benefits of TANF?
Though TANF is called a block-grant program, it combines seven different grants, each having federal funding caps (limited maximums): 1 State family-assistance grant—the $16.5 billion grant based on historic state welfare expenditures. 2 Bonuses to reward decreases in illegitimacy—$20 million grant to each of the five states with the largest reduction in out-of-wedlock birth rates combined with a decline in abortion rates. 3 Supplemental grants for population increases in certain states—formula grants to states with above-average population growth and below-average federal spending per poor person in AFDC and related programs. 4 Bonuses to reward high-performance states—bonus funds for states meeting the goals of the TANF program. 5 Welfare-to-work formula grants—matching grants to states to fund welfare-to-work initiatives targeting long-term welfare recipients, with an 85 percent pass-through of funds to localities (Job Training Partnership Act Service Delivery areas). 6 Welfare-to-work competitive grants—grants competitively awarded to private industry councils and cities or counties with welfare-to-work projects.
What is TANF for teen mothers?
TANF contains provisions to encourage two-parent families and reduce out-of-wedlock births. Several provisions deal specifically with the reduction of births among teen mothers. According to Rebecca A. Maynard, in Kids Having Kids: A Robin Hood Foundation Special Report on the Costs of Adolescent Childbearing (New York, NY: Robin Hood Foundation, 1996), 70 percent of teen mothers received welfare and approximately 40 percent stayed on AFDC for five years or more. Teen mothers tend to have less education and fewer job skills. The Family Planning Councils of America (FPCA) estimates that approximately 80 percent of children whose unmarried mother did not graduate from high school live in poverty.
How much did the federal government spend on TANF in 2001?
In addition, the federal government paid 50 percent of the administrative costs for the programs. Of the $24.5 billion spent on TANF in 2001, federal funds accounted for 60 percent ($14.8 billion), while state funds made up the remaining 40 percent ($9.8 billion).
What is the purpose of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act?
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA; PL 104-193), the welfare-reform law enacted in 1996, ended the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and replaced it with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. AFDC was an entitlement program that guaranteed benefits ...
How long was the welfare system based on TANF?
Because the U.S. welfare system was based on the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program for about sixty years, it is important to understand that program before comparing TANF to it. Following this brief background, the rest of the chapter will compare the old system with the new.
What was the AFDC in 1994?
In July 1994, the monthly combined AFDC and Food Stamps benefit for a family of three was $821, or 80 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. This gap has been increasing since 1989, when the combined AFDC and Food Stamps benefit was 96 percent of the Poverty Level. When adjusted for the effects of inflation, California's AFDC grant for a family ...
Why is the AFDC U caseload growing?
Just because the number of AFDC cases is increasing does not necessarily mean that Californians are more dependent on welfare benefits than in the past.
What was the increase in Hispanic women in 1993?
Between 1985 and 1993, the population of Hispanic women of child-bearing age increased by 42 percent. In addition, a large part of the increase is in child-only AFDC cases (most of which are children of undocumented parents or recently legalized immigrants) as we have indicated earlier.
Overview
History
Criticism
Termination
See also
The program was created under the name Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) by the Social Security Act of 1935 as part of the New Deal. It was created as a means tested entitlement which subsidized the income of families where fathers were "deceased, absent, or unable to work". It provided a direct payment of $18 per month for one child, and $12 for a second child. In 1994, the average payment was $420/month.
Further reading
Early in the program, there were concerns about whether it encouraged unwed motherhood. Some advocates complained that the rule had the effect of breaking up marriages and promoting matriarchy:
[T]he AFDC program tended to treat households with a cohabiting male who was not the natural father of the children much more leniently than those with …
External links
In 1996, President Bill Clinton negotiated with the Republican-controlled Congress to pass the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, which drastically restructured the program. Among other changes, a lifetime limit of five years was imposed on the receipt of benefits; the newly limited nature of the replacement program was reinforced by calling AFDC's successor Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Many Americans continue to refer to TANF a…