TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and Vocational Rehabilitation: Partnering for Employment Success. Institute on Rehabilitation Issues (28th). Held in Washington, D.C., on May 2003

摘要

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, which contains the Rehabilitation Act (the Act) as Title IV and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), that authorized the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, are in the process of being reauthorized as this document is being published and disseminated. While it is expected that changes to the statutes will occur, this publication contains the overarching principles inherent to the WIA, the Act, and TANF that will continue to be highly relevant and critical to efforts to assist TANF recipients with disabilities to achieve employment. Following the transition of most TANF recipients from welfare to work, policymakers are now examining the barriers faced by those individuals that remain in receipt of benefits. In an October 2001 report to Congress on welfare reform, the General Accounting Office (GAO) stated that the 'nationwide Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data for 1999 show that a total of 44% of TANF recipients reported having physical or mental impairments, a proportion almost three times as high as among adults in the non- TANF population' (page 3). Additionally, GAO cited that, 'one-third of counties that reported service data had, on average, fewer than half of recipients with impairments receiving services to move them toward employment, which may be explained in part by the fact that a large portion were exempted from program work requirements' (GAO, 2000).