FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Dr. Patrice Woeppel

954-796-5994

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, a human rights organization in Cambridge, Mass. has released a new report containing a synthesis of more than 2,500 testimonies of current and former welfare recipients and service providers in four states. America’s Forgotten Families, Voices of Welfare Reform concludes that welfare reform has produced some unintended and troubling results. Notably, while welfare rates are declining, many women leaving welfare are sinking deeper into poverty and their children are being placed at risk.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996 placed welfare decisions in the hands of states, mandated a five-year lifetime limit on benefits, and imposed strict work requirements on recipients.

In response to the legislation, UUSC began to administer the Welfare and Human Rights Monitoring Project in 1996. This independent project has monitored the effects of welfare reform legislation on low-income families in six states. The current report examines the effects of women and their families leaving welfare in New Jersey, California, Washington state and Massachusetts.

"In the past few years, many of America’s poorest families – most often low-income women and their children – have been unable to reap the benefits of economic prosperity," explains UUSC executive director, Dr. Valora Washington. Children, who comprise two-thirds of all welfare recipients in the country, are often the hardest hit by poverty and are suffering the effects of poorly conceived welfare reform legislation, the UUSC study concludes. Hunger, homelessness and lack of proper health care are just some of the most serious problems faced by children of recipient families.

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22222 Welfare Study Monitors low-income Families

The report examines the human costs of welfare reform through the lens of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and indicates that:

• Changes in federal welfare law are pushing parents into jobs that do not pay enough to support their families and are increasing housing instability and homelessness
• Welfare reform is placing more U.S. children at risk.

• Burdensome government rules and regulations exist which obstruct due process for welfare departments and clients, impose unlawful sanctions, and invade the privacy and dignity of recipients.

In light of the findings, the report recommends first and foremost that Congress needs to reauthorize Temporary Assistance for Needy Families at the current funding level by September 2002 and require states to monitor families leaving welfare. UUSC also recommends streamlining the application and renewal processes for benefit programs, strengthening the safety net for children (especially in terms of health care, shelter and food support) and developing strategies that will combat housing instability and homelessness. Another recommendation calls for expanding and improving skill-building services that will lead to jobs that will enable parents to support their families.

America’s Forgotten Families, Voices of Welfare Reform is available on the Web at www.uusc.org. Hard copies can be obtained by calling the UUSC at 1 (800) 766-5236.

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