ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores what is known about the large decrease in welfare recipiency and what families are doing after they leave welfare. It describes the several major research projects assessing welfare reform, programs that account for more than half the spending in the area: the Survey of Program Dynamics, the National Survey of America's Families, and the Project on Devolution and Urban Change. The book suggests changes in child poverty and the incomes of unmarried female-headed families with children from the period before welfare reform through the next three or four years. It summarizes what is known about cohabitation and its effects on children. The book also describes trends in teenage sex, pregnancy, and nonmarital births. It also explores what is known about the incidence of child mal-treatment and foster care placement rates since welfare reform.
