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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]

This article offers a review of welfare reform evaluation studies, summarizing research that has generated a consensus among mainstream policy analysts that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) has had few effects beyond caseload reductions and increases in employment. Given that supporters and opponents alike expected the law to have profound consequences, the article considers two ways to explain this surprising outcome, showing that (1) quantitative policy analysis has been ill equipped to capture the PRWORA's effects and (2) expectations were nonetheless wrong because they failed to appreciate how thoroughly Aid to Families with Dependent Children had already been eroded in the decades prior to its reform. Welfare reform was not the beginning of a process of policy change; it was the end of one. In response to these findings, the article describes how a more critical perspective on reform matters for social work researchers, advocates, and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare reform policies assume that recipients will increase work efforts if they are offered improved income and support services incentives. Yet, based on personal interviews with 60 welfare recipients, this study found that recipients often do not understand the incentives provided. This results both from a lack of knowledge about existing incentives and from confusion about eligibility rules and benefit calculations. Such knowledge deficits do not appear to be the result of lack of interest in working, but rather stem from the complexity of incentives. To improve recipient responsiveness and well-being, work incentives need to be simplified and strategies developed for better dissemination of information to recipients. Caseworkers must play a vital role in such efforts, because they often are the key to ensuring that recipients gain access to available benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teng and Pittman's model of "work-family fit" served as a theoretical base for exploring the experiences of families moving from welfare to work. Responding to open-ended telephone interview questions, 30 recently hired welfare recipients described factors that were needed for them to make a smooth transition into work, be successful at their jobs, and balance work and family. The individuals appeared to experience greater success when their own needs and the needs of their families were being met and when they were able to meet the demands of work, leading to greater work-family fit. Support from the workplace and other community sources, as well as participants' personal attributes contributed to this work-family fit. Specific strategies based on these findings are offered for employers, social workers, and community organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The profession of social work has made distinctive and important contributions to individual, family, and community social welfare, because it has avoided the excessive reductionism found in other helping professions. Unlike these other helping professions, social work has addressed economic and occupational needs of individuals, families, and their communities in a unique way. As a new century dawns, it is appropriate to look back and reflect and then to look ahead toward continuing challenges and emergent needs of individuals, families, and their surrounding communities. This article highlights some social work legacies and how they will help inform 21st century practice. Drawing on lessons from the past, several examples illustrate the kinds of strategies that might inform integrative social and economic foundations for practice, policy, and human well-being. The importance of these and other income-support and capacity-building strategies is featured against the challenges associated with welfare reform, new mandates for systems change, and what some see as the "reinvention" of the welfare state. The analysis concludes by describing some of the implications for professional education, research, practice, and their relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes an evaluation of an innovative site-based service program for residents of single-room occupancy hotels. The Growth and Achievement Program (CAP), a federal demonstration project, was designed to promote greater self- sufficiency among residents by providing social services and employment counseling to residents in their own environment. It was hypothesized that the program would increase educational attainment, job readiness, the ability to obtain and sustain employment, and monthly income for program clients compared with residents in nonparticipating housing units. The sample included 53 clients and 52 respondents in a matched comparison group at the six-month follow-up and 36 clients and 34 matches at the 12-month follow-up. Coal attainment scales and income data were used to measure program outcomes. CAP clients had significantly higher gain scores than did the comparison group and were much less likely to rely on public financial assistance as their primary source of income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the relationship among poverty, welfare, and work, and the factors that allow communities to foster employment opportunities, enhance accumulation of wealth and provide a safety net for families, in an era of diminishing federal government's role in social services. In addition, this article outlines the research needed to raise the understanding of how communities and labor markets affect work and poverty and the process through which communities can change to meet the challenges of devolution. The agenda set forth is not exhaustive but focuses on the contexts in which low-income people, whether working or on welfare, try to raise and support their families. The agenda assumes that social workers have an important role to play in helping create community and opportunity structures that allow all families to thrive. Welfare time limits and strong work requirements will leave large numbers of families in extremely precarious economic circumstances unless many of the barriers to employment for men and women currently in the low-skill labor force and moving on and off welfare are reduced. This problem cannot be approached piecemeal or with an individual focus; it requires a comprehensive approach to rebuilding the opportunities and supports for work in low-income communities.