Welfare reform seeks to:

1. reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies
   1. under what assumption(s)?) Check out teen pregnancy rates over time (page 1)--what was happening by 1996, when PRWORA was passed?
2. federal funds to support 'abstinence-only' education
3. Reproductive independence--who gets it?
4. Welfare benefit levels and fertility decisions--like sushi and homework?
5. Crack down on 'predatory men,' statutory rape
6. Institute the 'family cap'--children who 'don't count'
7. The Illegitimacy, anti-abortion bonus sweepstakes--five states with the greatest reductions in out-of-wedlock births got bonus money from the federal government, if done without raising the abortion rate
   1. The catch--no extra money for disseminating information on birth control.
8. promote marriage as a route off of welfare
   1. increase in welfare spending
   2. US population growth
   3. US defense spending
   4. US corn production
   5. US marriage and divorce
   6. Oklahome marriage and birth statistics (top of page 15 has state totals--Oklahoma was a prime beneficiary of marriage promotion federal funding during the Bush/Cheney Administration)
9. Allow children to be 'cared for at home.' Let's look at some of the childcare rules:
   1. Childcare subsidy-more expensive to put them in care than to care for them at home
   2. Most women receive no childcare subsidies (on TANF)-waiting lists, lack of certified providers
   3. Onerous application process: letter from employer, certification of eligibility and compliance from caseworker, physical exams and immunizations, medical records of kids, reporting requirements-failure to comply ends any subsidy
   4. Poor mothers are less likely to have friends/relatives who are certified-why?
   5. What happens? Why are only half of eligible mothers receiving child care benefits in many states?
      1. Mothers are unaware
      2. Many never complete the initial application process
      3. They can't keep up with reporting requirements
      4. It's too difficult to manage childcare slots as required
10. What about caseworkers? What do their jobs end up looking like?
11. As in many instances with welfare reform, the rules themselves may not be overly burdensome, but it is their rigidity--there are no exceptions (e.g., the abused and traumatized child example)
12. Issues:
    1. Suspect quality of childcare
    2. Graveyard shifts?? Swing shifts?
    3. 'deadbeat dads': collecting child support is difficult, expensive
       1. the problems? Poverty, domestic violence, paternity, locating fathers
       2. enforcement costs vs payments received
       3. Who's being held accountable here?
       4. Most of the money goes to the state to cover costs of enforcing the program
       5. This makes it difficult for mothers to maintain family ties-In essence, it works against functioning families, in many cases, and can bring violent men back into women's lives.
       6. Family values, or cost recovery

Choices--to get married, remain single .... issues with marriageability of men

Encouraging family values, or enforcing social control of mothers?