Telleen, Sharon, and Judith V. Sayad, eds. The Transition from Welfare to Work: Processes, Challenges, and Outcomes.

• Author: Anderson, Kay
• Position: Book Review

Telleen, Sharon, and Judith V. Sayad, eds. The Transition from Welfare to Work: Processes, Challenges, and Outcomes. New York: The Hayworth Press, Inc., 2002. 182 pp. Cloth, $49.95; paper, $24.95.

This monograph, published simultaneously as the Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, Vol. 23, 1 & 2, could easily have been subtitled "A Dose of Reality." The collected articles and studies go beyond the usual rhetoric regarding policy implementation and, instead, look at those most affected by the changes--i.e., the welfare recipients. The pessimistic realities found should, but probably will not, cause policy makers to rethink their actions and make more people-oriented decisions in the future.

Impetus for the collection came from the then-pending (2002) review of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families portion of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. While there are sections detailing the nuts and bolts of the original act and the welfare-to-work initiatives, the focus is on the actual effects on those involved in the programs.

As stated by the publisher, the monograph "includes qualitative, quantitative and econometric analyses as well as panel studies, longitudinal and quasi-experimental designs," but, significantly, among the facts and figures, there is not a loss of a sense of the welfare recipients themselves. While apparently thorough statistically, the studies are somewhat limited geographically and, in one instance, by the fact that agency personnel, not welfare recipients, served as the data source. Additionally, the studies are time-limited by the fact that the programs discussed had not been in effect for more than six years...