Economic Stability after Leaving Welfare

This research brief from the University of Maryland School of Social Work attempts to characterize former clients of Maryland’s Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) program who have left TCA and been able to make gains toward self-sufficiency. In acknowledgement that sustaining self-sufficiency is hard for many TCA leavers, the brief compares the characteristics of more and less self-sufficient families, both demographic and regional, and also compares the TCA involvement histories of successful leavers versus the histories of clients that are struggling with economic stability. Researchers also study the work histories of economically stable leavers and the industries in which they work. The goal of this brief is to provide information that may lead to strategies for improving family self-sufficiency after leaving the welfare system.