| The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act mandates Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) individuals participate in work activities in exchange for their benefit. In light of this legislation, single mothers have a complex transition to make as they move from welfare to workfare, faced with multiple role challenges on the road toward self-sufficiency. This study focuses on the forced transition of six TANF mothers who were meeting their work requirements in an urban nursing home setting. My objective was to hear, from their own perspectives, how workfare was preparing them to become job ready and the impact the process had on their motherwork.; I closely observed the participants, conducted in-depth interviews, and maintained field logs over the one-year period. I qualitatively analyzed the data through coding and categorization and emerging patterns and themes were identified, including Will You Get Me a Job, Promises to Keep, Surviving Adversity, Experiences in Workfare, Insecurity, and Stages of Forced Transition. Findings reflect that participants were able to comply with the mandated work program when time, support, and coping strategies allowed them to meet their basic needs for survival and emotional safety. Facing food and housing insecurity, along with a threat of losing their children to foster care if they did not find a job, created pervasive uncertainty. Participants' adolescent children were challenged by educational, psychosocial and health problems. Welfare stigma, history of incarceration, and lack of basic skills also were barriers to participants' making the transition to employment, and they found themselves recycling through the program.; Policy is needed that supports supporting adolescent childcare, expanded educational options, and financial and work provisions for TANF recipients. Further research is needed to examine the experiences of individuals who do make a successful transition to employment so that we can learn what factors make the transition possible. In addition, investigating the experiences of adolescents of workfare mothers may provide insight in how to improve outcomes for both mother and child. |
