INTRODUCTION TO THE AFDC PROGRAM

PAGE SB LARNER MB

Sb. Page et Mb. Larner, INTRODUCTION TO THE AFDC PROGRAM, The Future of children, 7(1), 1997, pp. 20-27

7

INGLESE

Article

Heath Policy & Services","Family Studies

The Future of children → ACNP

1054-8289

7

1

1997

20 - 27

ISI

1054-8289(1997)7:1<20:ITTAP>2.0.ZU;2-G

This journal issue discusses the policy challenges of helping parents move from welfare to work. As a foundation, this introductory article explains the federal-state program of cash assistance called Aid to Fa milies with Dependent Children (AFDC), to which the term welfare refer s in most of these articles. While a number of other social programs a re sometimes included under the umbrella of welfare-such as the Supple mental Security Income program for the disabled, food stamps, and Medi caid-the program that has drawn the most public scrutiny and negative attention, and the centerpiece of the 1996 welfare reform legislation, is AFDC. This article explains the basic structure of the AFDC progra m, including eligibility criteria and benefits; discusses the characte ristics of families that have received AFDC; describes trends in the p rogram's size and cost from the 1970s to 1996; and indicates the major ways in which the block grant established in the 1996 welfare reform legislation compares to the AFDC program that it replaced.