In 1996, our nation's Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. This act, commonly referred to as "welfare reform", replaced the 61-year-old Aid to Families with Dependant Children (AFDC). The new plan is called TANF- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. This change was considered monumental, for the two programs were very different. AFDC supplied cash to families who had children living with them, while the TANF requires work in exchange for assistance for a limited time. In essence, TANF was created to return the welfare system to doing the job it was implemented for- to help needy people back up on their feet. It was also devised as being a system impossible to take advantage of.

The TANF system does hold some similarities to is predecessor. The federal government does require that TANF funds be used by families with children. The majority of people benefiting from...