Welfare Reform Case Study

Welfare reform in Cabarrus county, North Carolina was a successful example of the national welfare reform implementation. In 1996 Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The low was meant to ‘end welfare as we know it’, promoting work instead of long term dependency from the government support. The reform provided more flexibility and decision making power to states, giving them right to develop local programs that would be aligned with the federal strategy but could also reflect local vision and meet the needs of the population. Key strategic changes introduced by the bill were: time limitations for the financial aid (Assistants for Families with Dependent Children was replaced by Temporary …show more content…
It paid attention to the child’s wellbeing, targeting 100% of the Work First children with intensive child protection services. This was meant to prevent one of the unanticipated consequence for which the national reform was mostly criticized – increase of child neglect. Understanding the lack of public transportation, the County provided commuting support to the Work First families ensuring retention of the employment. They also provided day care services for children. Broad spectrum of vacancy training and job consulting services became available to the citizens. As part of reform –drug and alcohol treatment was provided to those who who had substance abuse problems. Hence, the reform was not jus pushing for employment, but was responding to the factors that prevented people from finding job at the fist place. All these innovations changed the culture of the welfare on the county level. Social service workers turned from the clerks who checked welfare eligibility and filed paperwork to a support specialist who lessened to families needs and developed individual strategy of the change for every