Before welfare reform in 1996, states were mostly required to give cash assistance to anyone who was eligible — without work requirements or time limits. The amount of money from the federal government varied year to year based on need. After welfare reform, the government capped the program at $16.5 billion dollars. Now, states receive a block grant, and they can choose to spend their federal money as long as it fits within four categories:
Georgia has an atypical approach to spending its welfare funds. Since 1996, it has shifted the greatest portion of its welfare funds to “Authorized Under Prior Law” and “Other Non-Assistance,” the least-defined categories allowed by the federal government. Those two categories made up 77 percent of the state’s total welfare expenditures, totaling $390 million in 2014. That’s compared with 17 percent spent on cash welfare, work support and child care combined — a total of $86 million in 2014. Where does that $390 million money go? Primarily to fund foster care and adoption programs that have been hit hard by budget shortages. However, Liz Schott, of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that’s not adding to the total amount of funding for foster care in Georgia: “This is money that it’s essentially just freeing up to use in any way it sees fit.”
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Note: Single-year labels represent two-year averages; for example '2016' represents '2015-2016'.
Between 1996 and 2016, the number of TANF cases in Georgia dropped by about 90%. In that same time period, the number of families with children in poverty increased by about 40%.
