Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

The impact of the length of time that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients receive benefits on their path out of poverty is not clear. The purpose of this qualitative study with a phenomenological design was to increase understanding of the comparative experiences of TANF recipients who reached their lifetime limit of 60 or 24 months to determine the impact of time limits on their path out of poverty and the fulfillment of the TANF goal and second purpose. Human capital theory provided the framework for the study. Using a purposive, homogenous sampling method, 6 social service professionals were selected to participate in this study. Only social service professionals who began serving in their role prior to November 1, 2011 were considered for participation because that is the date Kansas first reduced maximum TANF eligibility from 60 months. Data were collected from questionnaires and interviews with these 6 social service professionals. Inductive coding and theme analysis indicated that TANF participation did not reduce the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage. Although the reduction in the number of lifetime TANF eligibility months resulted in TANF participants being more focused and intentional in following TANF participation guidelines, poverty persisted. Findings may be used to influence Kansas legislators to enact social service policies at the county and local levels to increase financial self-sufficiency for Kansans exiting TANF.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 158 p. : ill., maps. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-158).

Thesis (Ph.D)--University of Delaware, 2005. / Principal faculty advisor: Curtis, Karen A., Dept. of Urban Affairs and Public Policy. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.S.W.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2010. / Title from title page screen (viewed on July 20, 2010). Thesis advisor: Stan Lee Bowie. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from title screen. Wendy Simonds, committee chair; Ralph LaRossa, Charles A. Gallagher, committee members. Electronic text (289 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 19, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 246-275).

The passage of PRWORA in 1996 gave states the opportunity to engage in secondorder devolution (SOD), which allows local governments to exercise more discretionary power in the implementation of welfare policies. Currently 14 states have engaged in significant SOD, with a number of other states practicing SOD to a lesser degree. Given this trend in TANF administration, it is important to explore if and how SOD affects the implementation of TANF work sanctions and work-related policies. Opponents of welfare decentralization insist SOD may lead to a ‘race to the bottom’ in welfare generosity to avoid the immigration of the poor, the loss of business revenue, and financial burden due to fiscal relationship, while proponents of welfare decentralization insist that local governments better understand the needs of the poor and are therefore better able to provide more appropriate services to their welfare clients, thus improving program performance. Existing scholarship on SOD under TANF has focused on the increase in discretion to local government, and how this may enhance variation in policy outcomes or contribute to policy success or stringency across local jurisdictions (Cho et al. 2005 ; Fording, Soss and Schram 2007). However, these studies are limited by the fact that they examine a single state. To date there has been no systematic analysis of the impact of administrative structure on the implementation of welfare policy which compares centralized states with SOD states. In this dissertation, I conduct an analysis of the effects of SOD across the states by exploring how differences in administrative structure due to SOD affect different implementation outcomes. First, I examine the impact of SOD on the implementation of TANF work sanctions, using individual-level administrative data combined with county level data. Second, I examine the impact of SOD on TANF work sanctions, caseload decline, and several work-related TANF outcomes with state-level data. Multilevel analysis and OLS with panel corrected errors are applied for the analyses. Specifically, I test the conventional wisdom that success and punitiveness in policy implementation is enhanced in second-order devolution states, compared to centralized states, due to increased discretion granted to local governments in SOD states.

Thesis advisor: Marc K. Landy / In August of 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and fulfilled his campaign promise to “end welfare as we know it.” Conventionally, the passage of welfare reform has been understood as a product of the ‘Republican Revolution,’ a backlash against government in which the party “took back” both chambers of Congress and discharged the ten provisions of the ‘Contract with America.’ This account treats welfare reform as a deeply political affair: President Clinton was thus put into the position of needing to pass conservative welfare reform. While this theory is not inaccurate, this senior honors thesis holds that it is incomplete. Therefore, any account of the passage of welfare reform needs to engage with the more complex dimensions of policy formation. I suggest that the PRWORA was signed into law by virtue of public opinion aligning with elite opinion. The latter required ‘dissensus politics’ to be overcome. I argue that this transpired, and further that a loose consensus was formed among the elites with respect to the contents of meaningful reform due to social science evidence emanating from the various states. Lastly, I contend that the ancillary features of the legislation were negotiated, for which the nation’s governors played an instrumental role. These matters reveal timeless truths about American politics and policy formation. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Political Science. / Thesis advisor:

The child tax credit (CTC) is the largest anti-child poverty policy in the United States, but it gives more benefits to upper-income households than it does to lower-income households. Meanwhile, traditional cash benefit welfare programs like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) have shrunk over the past two decades. Why have American policymakers approached child poverty with indirect rather than direct spending solutions? This thesis argues that neoliberalism, defined as the reliance of policymakers on market means to achieve public goals, is to blame. Historical case comparisons between TANF and the CTC demonstrate that policymakers utilize neoliberal code words implicitly to divide target populations into deserving and undeserving groups. Additionally, an original survey experiment finds that political actors can increase public support for regressive economic agendas by incorporating indirect social spending into their legislation. Ultimately, neoliberal values challenge our conception of what constitutes good politics and good policy. It is clear that direct spending solutions to child poverty are present and available, but their attainability is falsely shrouded in clouds of skepticism from the neoliberal mindset.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-149). Also available on the Internet.