Cash assistance and social justice from the perspective of low-income mothers: Community participation to change the dialogue on welfare policies

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, or “cash assistance”) is an essential yet flawed component of the safety net for families in the U.S. Current TANF allotments are insufficient to provide for a family's basic needs, even with support from other welfare programs. Contrary to TANF's stated goals, many of the requirements of the program perpetuate cycles of poverty, and are in fact detrimental to the health and well-being of children who are entitled to such benefits. The reauthorization of TANF scheduled for fall 2010 provides an opportunity and obligation to re-examine these programs with the participation of those who are and who have been TANF recipients. This presentation will utilize results from Witnesses to Hunger, a participatory action research project with low-income mothers of young children in Philadelphia, almost all of whom have received TANF as adults. Results from analyses of 150 recorded hours of open-ended interviews demonstrate that women's and children's social and economic rights are consistently violated; in turn, these social injustices negatively affect maternal and child health and limit human potential. This presentation, created with the input of the mothers of Witnesses to Hunger, will discuss recommendations for improvements in cash assistance policies and our work to change these policies through community-based advocacy.