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The negative impacts of the Great Recession (GR) (2007 to 2009) on the lives of families with low incomes warrant social work concerns about how well antipoverty policy responded to meet economic needs over this period and since. Given America's long-standing tension between welfare state adequacy and market-oriented policies, how well did the safety net respond to the economic downturn? Did GR-era changes reverse or accelerate trends in public assistance? This article examines key policy changes and indicators of caseloads, inclusion, and generosity for three antipoverty policies: the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamp Program), and the Earned Income Tax Credit from 2007 to 2017. Authors' analysis shows a continuation of market-oriented U.S. antipoverty policy. Authors argue that the reemphasis of conditioning benefits on employment undermines the countercyclical feature of the social safety net and perpetuates the inequitable redistribution of public resources between those inside and outside of the labor market. Authors discuss social workers' role in strengthening antipoverty policies to improve the economic well-being of people with low incomes and the economic justice of the social safety net.

Neoliberal political reasoning is remaking the state's democratic character and its governing rules to reflect those of the market. The most prominent legislative example, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, dictates work requirements, time limits, and monitoring and sanctioning of clients. Through such policies, the primary aims of government assistance changed from aiding needy citizens to transforming individuals into paid workers, regardless of continued poverty or care obligations. Although scholarship of related policy and governance tools has grown, less study has centered on understanding the historic events and ways in which race-based, gendered, and poverty narratives facilitated adoption of such austere policies. This article compares circumstances of African American and White mothers in the United States from the Revolutionary War to the postwelfare era. It describes what neoliberalism is, discusses the role of ideological discourses in policy and governance, presents the history and historical racialized portrayals of White and African American motherhood during this period, and analyzes the differential impact of ideological discourses using a lens of intersectionality. The conclusion discusses how discriminatory discourses subvert a democratic ethos for all and suggests ways for social workers to contest the impacts of neoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores state registries of people substantiated for child maltreatment. It is reported that these registries disproportionately impact women of color (black and Latinx) and can impact employment for years after allegations are made. The article notes the protective role of these registries for children as well as their collateral consequences for those placed on them.

Lower-income millennials make important financial decisions that may affect their future financial well-being. With limited resources, this population is at risk for acquiring too much debt or being unprepared for a financial emergency that can send them further into poverty and constrain their ability to leverage resources for future economic mobility. A financial capability approach, an intervention that combines financial education with financial inclusion through the use of a savings account, may correlate with millennials' healthy financial behaviors. This study used data from the 2012 National Financial Capability Study to examine the relationship between financial capability and the financial behaviors of lower-income millennials between the ages of 18 and 34 years (N = 2,578). Compared with those lower-income millennials who were financially excluded, those who were financially capable were also 171 percent more likely to afford an unexpected expense, 182 percent more likely to save for emergencies, and 34 percent less likely to carry too much debt, relating to their greater overall financial satisfaction. The findings of this study indicate that interventions that develop lower-income millennials' financial capability may be effective for promoting healthy financial behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-sufficiency (SS) is an important social welfare policy goal in the United States, yet little is known about the process that leads to SS. To address this gap in the literature, this study examined the relationship between spirituality, hope, and SS among a sample of low-income job seekers (N = 116). It was hypothesized that spirituality would be related to hope, and that hope, in turn, would be related to SS. Using survey data from two workforce development agencies, this hypothesis was confirmed--hope fully mediated the relationship between spirituality and SS. Of the two factors through which hope is commonly operationalized--agency and pathways--supplemental analysis suggested that spirituality only affects SS through the agency channel. To help foster hope in direct practice settings, it is suggested that social workers might employ spiritually modified cognitive-behavioral therapy protocols. Macrostructural interventions that block the pathway component of hope are also suggested to help reverse exclusion from labor market entry. As such, hope needs to be addressed comprehensively--intrapsychically and macrostructurally--to effect bottom-up change for SS. Engendering hope may assist clients overcome some of the many challenges they encounter on the journey to SS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]