The U.S. Senate has a serious job to do this month, as it takes up the reauthorization of the 1996 welfare reform legislation.

Most people want working poor families to be able to give their children a good start in life. And as they debate what changes to make in the nation's welfare policies as part of the reauthorization, many lawmakers in Washington, DC are saying they want welfare-to-work families to gain financial independence and stability for their kids. But there is a deep divide over how to reach these goals. And the political rhetoric seems far removed from the real lives of welfare families and their children.

As I listen to the debate, it seems that some of the political rhetoric is driven by an image of the welfare parent as suffering primarily from a case of a bad attitude—dependent, unreliable, lazy. When I listen to welfare mothers, I hear a different, more complicated story—of trying to stay one paycheck ahead of the bills, of being one medical emergency or car repair away from financial disaster, of a longing to get a better chance at education or training.

Much of the political discussion assumes that the pathway to independence for welfare families is a simple matter of encouraging hard work and/or encouraging marriage. But again, it's not always so simple. Welfare-to-work mothers talk of working long hours at low pay and still having a hard time meeting their families' needs; of losing jobs because they can't find child care (a particularly difficult problem for the mothers of disabled children); or of being cut off from work by limited skills, limited English, transportation problems, a job-poor community, or the need to take care of an ailing child or parent.

But politicians don't have to take the rhetoric at face value, and they don't have to rely on anecdotal evidence from welfare moms to make wise decisions as they craft the next five years for welfare reform. There is now a mounting body of research evidence that can deepen and inform the current political debate.

A lot of this research crosses my desk and my computer screen in the course of my work. A few lessons stand out.

In a Marriage, Quality Counts
Research on the impact of marriage on children's well-being finds that there is only one kind of marriage that is clearly linked to better lives for children: a low-conflict marriage between biological mother and father. (See ChildTrends research brief [1].)

And now new research has been released that indicates that by requiring single mothers to participate in the workforce, welfare reform may actually be interfering with the ability and desire of single moms to find stability in marriage. In both Iowa and Connecticut, researchers found welfare-to-work demands had a negative impact on marriage among single mothers. In Iowa those in the welfare reform program were 8 percent less likely than those in the traditional program to be married at follow-up, and they experienced more instability in their relationships. When it comes to marriage, as with strengthening families, policy should make sure parents have time for their kids and each other. (See report by Mathematica [2].)

All of which indicates a need to look carefully at how much we don't know about encouraging the formation of healthy families, before we create new policies with marriage as the goal.

Not Just Any Job Will Do
Many welfare policies have been based on the assumption that getting welfare parents a job is the key to a better attitude and a better income. Without education and training opportunities, however, most working poor parents cannot look forward to improved future earnings. Without the chance to earn basic credentials and develop the skills that the job market demands, most low-wage workers will experience their "entry level" jobs not as starting points for a better future, but as dead ends with no hope for improvement.

The research on welfare-to-work families indicates that hard work alone is not enough to enable low-wage families to provide for their families or improve how well their kids are doing in school. It takes more than a job to make ends meet—it takes a good job at a good wage. Or, if wages are low, then parents need help with child care, food stamps, housing, health coverage and/or cash assistance to make ends meet. (The Urban Institute [3] reports on welfare reform.)

School Performance and Income
On the link between children's school performance and their parents' employment status, one group of researchers found that children will do somewhat better in school if their parents are working—but only if that translates into higher family income. School-age children do better only as long as policies bolster the family incomes of single-parent workers rather than simply requiring them to go to work.

Since low-wage families often lose certain public benefits when they work, the transition off of welfare can mean a decline or simply no real change at all in the family's financial condition. In that case, children will not benefit from the change.

Whether they support keeping the work requirements the same or they support increasing work requirements for families making the transition off of welfare, policy makers might be wise to consider strengthening the non-wage supports we offer these families, in order to make sure children don't lose out.

Teens Need Parenting Too
When it comes to teenagers, common wisdom has it that having a parent in the workforce offers a good role model to help teens stay engaged in school and prepare for a productive future. Here again research tells us that things are not that simple. The evidence is mounting that when mothers of teens are required to work long hours, teens do less well in school. This is especially true of those who might be caring for younger siblings in the out-of-school hours. And even when family incomes rise, the negative effect of having their parents in the workforce persist for teens. (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation offers information [4].)

Policymakers might consider ways to encourage the development of good after-school programs for teens and their younger siblings as part and parcel of efforts to get their parents into the workforce.

Welfare Reform Has Left Some Children Farther Behind
The data is clear that welfare caseloads dropped during the second half of the 1990s. While researchers, advocates and politicians argue over how much the decline is due to welfare reforms and how much it is due to a strong national economy for much of that period, one simple fact seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. Many eligible families in need of help are not participating in welfare at all.

About a third of the drop in the number of families receiving assistance is not due to people leaving welfare, but rather to eligible families in need not even entering the system. Reasons vary, and include deliberate policies designed to discourage people from applying; a reluctance among poor, non-working families to admit need in the face of welfare reform's work-first message, and fears and misunderstandings among eligible immigrant families about the tighter immigrant eligibility rules.

These data raise the serious question about a one-size-fits-all approach to welfare. If a third of the families who qualify for benefits no longer go to the welfare office or do not make it through the application process, what good is the safety net? (See Urban Institute publication [5].)

The research tells a story—that welfare policy, like good parenting, makes a difference in how children and teenagers grow up. As the Senate takes up reauthorizing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families for the next five years, let's hope they base their decisions on what we've learned about what a real road to independence looks like each step of the way.