The unfinished business of welfare reform

An analysis of how social policy objectives in areas of family life are often muddled by incompatible desires to protect children & to liberate parents. This predicament is illustrated in the way the program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) treats unwed teenage mothers. While various public constraints are imposed on adolescents, when it comes to caring for children, public policy assumes a remarkably lax attitude toward teenage parents. Despite the fact that rates of child abuse & neglect & sudden infant death syndrome are significantly higher among unwed teenage mothers than in the general population, the parental competence of this group goes unquestioned, & teenage parents are given support under AFDC to nurture & socialize helpless infants with virtually no conditions attached. The historical & ideological reasons for the presumption of competence in AFDC policy are examined, & policy alternatives for the protection of children explored. AA