Families on Welfare: Focus on Teenage Mothers Could Enhance Welfare Reform Efforts
HEHS-94-112
Published: May 31, 1994. Publicly Released: May 31, 1994.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the demographic and economic characteristics of single-parent families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program (AFDC) benefits, focusing on: (1) how certain characteristics of AFDC female-headed families influence their length of stay on welfare; and (2) the implications for welfare reform in general and the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program (JOBS) in particular.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Congress should consider an enhanced focus on teenage mothers currently receiving AFDC while debating the various issues central to welfare reform. If Congress wants to increase assistance to teenage AFDC mothers, it could do so by narrowing the current JOBS target group of parents under 24 years of age with little education or work experience to teenage mothers. However, in considering such action, Congress should take into account that absent an increase in spending on JOBS, narrowing the target group of young parents may mean that teenage mothers would receive assistance at the expense of other JOBS participants. |
Closed – Implemented
|
Congress enacted sweeping changes to the nation's welfare system on August 1, 1996. The welfare legislation replaces the AFDC program with capped block grants to the states and repeals the JOBS program for AFDC families. Pursuant to the matter for consideration, the legislation contains specific provisions for a subgroup of teenage mothers, unmarried mothers under age 18. Under welfare reform, an unmarried minor mother who has not completed high school must either attend school or an approved alternate training program once her youngest child is 12 weeks old. |
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Topics
Disadvantaged personsEmployment assistance programsMedicaidPopulation statisticsReprogramming of appropriated fundsSingle parentsTeenagersWelfare benefitsWelfare recipientsWomenChildbirth