"Leavers" from TANF and AFDC: How Do They Fare Economically?(Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (Aid to Families with Dependent Children‪)‬

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) was enacted as a part of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) (P.L. 104-193) and is a drastic departure from the Job Opportunity and Basic Skills Training Program (JOBS), enacted as part of the Family Support Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-485; for information on how TANF is implemented in the states, see Stoltzfus, Burke, & Falk, 2000). This historic departure is reflected in TANF's "work first" orientation, the two-year limit in any spell of receiving cash assistance without engaging in work or work-related activities, and the five-year lifetime limit on receiving cash assistance. The JOBS policy with regard to work and work-related activities had an enabling rather than mandatory tone. It allowed, but did not require, states to offer job development, job placement and job search services, on-the-job training, work supplementation (wages subsidized by benefits), and community work experience. Moynihan (1990) and others (for example, Lurie & Sanger, 1991) argued that the JOBS program established a mutually understood social contract, under which recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) were to assume responsibility for becoming self-sufficient while the government provided necessary education, training, child care, and supportive services.