Families, poverty, and welfare reform : confronting a new policy era

Can welfare encourage self-sufficiency, or does it merely foster ongoing dependence on the system? What hope can be placed in welfare reform? This essential volume combines essays by prominent public policy scholars with comments by social project directors who speak from their experience in the field. Essays include critical assessments of the effects of poverty on children and families, policies to reduce dependency on welfare, and welfare reform, as well as a more specific look at welfare reform in the state of Illinois.