"[With public supports], I have enough to pay my bills, but I often run short. If I need anything extra, especially for the kids, it is hard. Recently, my daughter needed some cough medicine. It wasn't covered by insurance. I had to borrow the money from a friend to get her the medicine. Things like that happen a lot."
—39-year-old mother of two living in Washington, DC

What did 1996 welfare reform mean for the people receiving assistance? And what does the future hold for families leaving welfare?

Faces of Change: Personal Experiences of Welfare Reform in America, a new book from the Alliance for Children and Families, a membership of private, nonprofit human and social service agencies, gives voice to an often silenced group: families receiving welfare supports. Between April and June 2000, social workers in 50 communities across the country gave clients affected by welfare reform a survey asking open-ended questions about job training, employment, child care, transportation, health and health care.

In their own words, interviewees (called the authors of the stories in the study) share their experiences about what "ending welfare as we know it"— changes like time limits, work requirements and the removal of the guaranteed "safety net"—has really meant for them, and for their families.

The results should explode some stereotypes, says lead researcher and study editor Thomas Lengyel, Ph.D. Parents receiving public aid are largely optimistic about their families' futures. They are, Lengyel writes in the introduction, "resolutely committed to the protection and welfare of their children. In this respect they differ not at all from their better-off peers."

Here, in their own words, are some of the authors' stories.

Job Training and Employment
Welfare reform shifted the guarantee of cash supports for families in need to a focus on personal responsibility through time-limited assistance and work requirements. State caseloads have fallen by an average of 49 percent, with many "leavers" moving into the workforce.

Faces of Change asked participants to describe their experience with job training, and in getting or holding a job. A small group of authors (25 percent) reported that they'd found stable, living-wage jobs with benefits and room for advancement. Roughly half, however, said they struggled with the transition to work and found jobs that, in general, did little to lift them out of poverty. A quarter of the authors—most with little education and work experience or barriers like physical and mental health problems in the family—faced persistent unemployment. This matches the findings of other quantitative research.

"It's hard to go back to college, or any school, to help you get a better paying job. Especially when you are the bread winner of the family, and you can't afford it because you have to take a minimum wage job."
—39-year-old mother supporting her two children in Lafayette, Indiana

"I went through the Department of Human Resources for the Welfare-to-Work program and they helped me out with getting my application set and doing it in a manner that would help me get a job—do it professional ? just [gave] me that uplift to let me know that I can get back out there and do it without, you know, help really from anybody else—just do it for myself today."
—30-year-old mother of two children living in East Point, Georgia

"After going to a job training course, you are literally thrown around from one place to another. Really no training is given to you, basically you are pretty much left on your own. All that you are told in job training is that ?you need to find a job or you will be cut off from public aid,' and everyone knows that it is not as easy as they make it seem."
—25-year-old mother living with her spouse and three children in Chicago Lawn, Illinois

"Many employers want you to be very flexible with your schedule and work weekends and holidays ? I really need a job that is flexible with me—one that allows me to take care of my family, as well as my work. Most jobs don't understand that you may not have anyone else who can take your kids to the doctors, etc."
—28-year-old mother of two, living in El Cajon, California

Child Care
The emphasis on moving families from welfare to work makes the availability of affordable, high-quality child care more important than ever. Welfare reform gave states new flexibility in designing and funding child care subsidy programs, but the results have been varied—in most states, according to studies by the Center for Law and Social Policy, fewer than 30 percent of eligible welfare "leavers" actually receive child care subsidies.

In response to the question, "please describe your recent experience with getting child care and your experience with your child care provider," Faces of Change authors reported facing long waiting lists for subsidized child care, trouble finding providers available in nontraditional hours, and difficulties finding caretakers for kids with medical or other special needs. When they did find care, many parents ran into problems with getting the subsidy payments.

"I make more money right now than ever before, but I still couldn't pay for child care for two children. I just don't know what I will do when my child care assistance ends! Will I be on the streets again?"
—28-year-old mother of two in El Cajon, California

"I have some questions about the quality. My oldest son's provider is nice, but I don't think he gets enough stimulation. He never has work to show me, like coloring. I have worked with him on the numbers, colors, shapes and alphabet, but I don't see much sign that she works with him in these things. She is working on potty training."
—24-year-old mother of two working as a cashier at a car wash in Washington, DC

"There were numerous calls to my caseworker because two months has passed and the child care provider did not receive the payment. My kids were forced out of care. I started missing days at work. I fell behind in my bills because someone had to pay for child care. ? I requested fair hearing after fair hearing, won and they still did not pay money to the child care provider."
—28-year-old mother working and living with her three kids in New York City, New York

Transportation
With its emphasis on work, welfare reform created a need for affordable, reliable transportation. When asked to describe their experiences with day-to-day travel, including getting to and from work, Faces of Change authors reported that transportation was often a significant barrier to finding and keeping jobs. Often, public transportation isn't available to take parents from home to child care to the places where the jobs are, or doesn't run during the hours they need it. Authors living or traveling to jobs in areas with little or no public transportation were often forced to rely on family or friends, burdening those relationships.

"I am having difficulty finding a job because I do not have a car. It takes me too long to ride the bus—even to a fairly close jobsite—this would make it difficult to be able to pick up children before day care closed and I would have to pay for a taxi from my house to the child care."
—36-year-old mother of two in St. Petersburg, Florida

"I do what I have to do. My current [job] training allows me to walk, so I walk. But if I had to be at work at 5 a.m., there's no bus. I'm out of work again. I realize that getting a job is going to require having a car, but no job, no car, no money. ?all the resources lead you back to the start."
—27-year-old mother living with her two children in north Pittsburgh, PA

"I travel on a bus. It's hectic but I still do it because I don't know how to drive or have a car. ? It's 15 minutes to get to my son's school and then another 30 to 45 minutes to drop my godson off. To get to work, it depends, because I go to different locations. Sometimes it takes an hour and two buses to get across town."
—29-year-old mother working for the state board of education and living with her husband and two children in East Orange, New Jersey

Health and Health Care
Welfare reform maintained that families were entitled to Medicaid as they transitioned off of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and into the workforce. Children in low-income families are also entitled to health care coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Some states limit Medicaid to very low-income families, leaving workers just above the poverty line uninsured.

Faces of Change asked participants to describe their family's health and their ability to get health care for themselves and their children. Nearly half of those employed and no longer receiving welfare supports were uninsured. Many didn't realize they were eligible for Medicaid or CHIP. Authors with chronically ill children or who themselves had serious health problems faced challenges accessing the care they needed.

"I have no health problems. I would like to further my education in addition to working, but my children have chronic illness. I can't make definite plans because I don't know when they may get sick. The illness requires some hospitalization so their illness affects my ability to work."
—36-year-old mother of two in St. Petersburg, Florida

"I think the health is okay, but does it include dental? I've had a lot of problems getting dental help. They don't have enough dentists that accept Hoosier Healthwise, and the ones that do has long waiting lists. [My daughter] has had to wait four months to get two cavities filled."
—21-year-old mother of three in Lafayette, Indiana

"They should have more programs like HEALS at other schools. The kids wouldn't miss as much school."
—35-year-old mother of four from Hunstville, Alabama (HEALS is Health Establishments at Local Schools, a free medical and dental clinic for students and their families living in the school's service areas.)

On Being a "Welfare Mom"?
On the last page of the survey, authors were given space to share their thoughts about the challenges and barriers they face, and their life experiences as parents struggling to raise families on welfare. Here's what some of them said.

"Sometimes I feel as though I'm being stereotyped. Yes, I'm a ?welfare mom,' but, many people forget to ask the details of the situation. Others assume that I am just too lazy to get a job. Personally, I feel that a few years of being on welfare while I get my education is better than working a job paying minimum wage and being on welfare indefinitely."
—21-year-old mother living with one child in Lafayette, Indiana

"You say welfare this and welfare that and that we mothers do nothing well, ?Hello Mr. President, being a mother is the biggest job in the world.' We are everything from teacher, to cook, to beautician, to doctor. We don't just stay home and watch soap operas. We clean. We cook. We take our children to the doctors."
—27-year-old mother working for a bank, living with her spouse and two children in Norwalk, CT

"I think my current pay level is $4.30 an hour plus tips. ... See this is what I think is weird about the system. Without a job, I had all these benefits, including food stamps. My caseworker came and as soon as I got a job, my benefits were cut, which makes it hard."
—42-year-old bartender home-schooling her son in El Paso, Texas

"Being a single mother is a tough job, probably one of the toughest. I don't believe I could have come as far as I have without the assistance that I have received. ? it has enabled me to pursue a college education and become self-sufficient in many ways."
—25-year-old mother with two children attending college and working part time in Dallas, Texas

Caitlin Johnson is staff writer at Connect for Kids.