The welfare reform bill passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton contains several revolutionary provisions which require your work to properly implement at the state level.

Instead of simply making monthly payments to recipients, the new law provides that its purposes are to "encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families," reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies, and promote work and marriage. All of the funds made available to the states under the block grant are to be used for these purposes. In addition, a bonus fund of $1 billion dollars is available to states which show year-to-year improvement in implementing the above program purposes.

You need to begin work immediately with your state officials to develop programs which will encourage two-parent family formation, maintenance, and continued two-parent involvement in the event of divorce. Federal money is now available to fund all of these programs because Congress recognizes that marriage and two-parent involvement after marriage are the best welfare prevention programs. You need to begin work immediately with your state officials to assure that they have time to develop all the programs and include them in the "state plan" which must be submitted to the federal government in order to obtain release of the block grant funds.

Other provisions end welfare as a way of life by (1) limiting the duration of benefits; (2) requiring work participation; (3) increasing protections against fraud; (4) collecting data on child abuse to better determine type, frequency, and perpetrator; and (5) encouraging "kinship care" to place a child with relatives rather than strangers in the event of deficiencies in the custodial parent. Your state will need your help in developing and implementing programs in all of these areas.