Abstract
The 1996 welfare reform law sought to reformulate single mothers’ income package, replacing cash welfare checks with paychecks. However, many single mothers have not been able to do that and have neither earnings nor cash assistance. Among a sample of single mothers in Los Angeles and southeast Michigan, we find that when single mothers lose jobs and do not receive cash assistance, they package income from a variety of sources (such as other public assistance programs and informal child support), find others in their social networks to pay their bills, or move in with others. However, their income packaging strategies are fraught with challenges. Benefits from certain public programs are difficult to secure; financial assistance from friends and family members can quickly vanish, particularly if a partner is deported or jailed; and doubling up with others often leads to living in crowded and unsafe conditions.
- Copyright © 2015 by Russell Sage Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Reproduction by the United States Government in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose. This project was funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under contract #HHS P23-337-0207. The authors’ thank Emily Schmitt and Matthew Borus, federal project officers, for their support of this work, Sandra Huerta and Max Sokoloff for excellent research assistance, and Pamela Loprest for her guidance on the project. Direct correspondence to: Kristin Seefeldt at kseef{at}umich.edu, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109; and Heather Sandstrom at hsandstrom{at}urban.org, Urban Institute, 2100 M St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20037.
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