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Social Welfare Law Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social Welfare Law

Making Federalism Work: Lessons From Health Care For The Green New Deal, Jesse M. Cross, Shelley Welton May 2021

Making Federalism Work: Lessons From Health Care For The Green New Deal, Jesse M. Cross, Shelley Welton

University of Richmond Law Review

For decades, federalism had a bad reputation. It often was perceived as little more than a cover for state resistance to civil rights and other social justice reforms. More recently, however, progressive scholars have argued that federalism can meaningfully advance nationalist ends. According to these scholars, federalism allows for spaces in which norms can be contested, developed, and extended. This new strain of scholarship also recognizes, however, that these federalist structures can still shield national-level reforms from reaching all Americans. Many see such gaps as a regrettable but unavoidable feature of our federalist system. But to embrace federalism as an …


Virginia Ranks Forty-Ninth Of Fifty: The Need For Stronger Laws Supporting Foster Youth, Nadine Marsh-Carter, Bruin S. Richardson Iii, Laura Ash-Brackley, Cassie Baudeán Cunningham Nov 2018

Virginia Ranks Forty-Ninth Of Fifty: The Need For Stronger Laws Supporting Foster Youth, Nadine Marsh-Carter, Bruin S. Richardson Iii, Laura Ash-Brackley, Cassie Baudeán Cunningham

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.


Screening The Poor: The Legality Of Drug Testing For Welfare Benefits, Jacquelyn Bolen Jan 2014

Screening The Poor: The Legality Of Drug Testing For Welfare Benefits, Jacquelyn Bolen

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

On March 8, 2014, at the conclusion of the 2014 Virginia General Assembly regular session, Virginia joined at least 17 other states that, in this year alone, have introduced proposals to screen or test applicants for illegal substances prior to obtaining public assistance. Following the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which permitted states to conduct drug testing as part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, states began proposing drug screenings for applicants of public welfare benefits. Despite a 2003 Sixth Circuit decision holding that suspicionless drug testing is unconstitutional, in …


Rethinking Social Ventures In Hong Kong, Damian Alexander Bethke, Jedrzej Gorski Jan 2014

Rethinking Social Ventures In Hong Kong, Damian Alexander Bethke, Jedrzej Gorski

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

Hong Kong has experienced a significant transformation in its understanding of business, which concerns the phenomenon of social ventures that attempt to combine a make money and do good approach and to apply business skills to address social needs. Social ventures live a mystical existence, as they are fully ignored from a legal perspective despite the recent reform of laws on charitable activities. This causes problems as to their general understanding, which the authors try to address with their own typology, systematically characterizing social ventures. Then the authors examine the legal environment of social ventures in Hong Kong and identify …


Screening The Poor: The Legality Of Drug Testing For Welfare Benefits, Jacquelyn Bolen Jan 2014

Screening The Poor: The Legality Of Drug Testing For Welfare Benefits, Jacquelyn Bolen

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

On March 8, 2014, at the conclusion of the 2014 Virginia General Assembly regular session, Virginia joined at least 17 other states that, in this year alone, have introduced proposals to screen or test applicants for illegal substances prior to obtaining public assistance. Following the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which permitted states to conduct drug testing as part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, states began proposing drug screenings for applicants of public welfare benefits. Despite a 2003 Sixth Circuit decision holding that suspicionless drug testing is unconstitutional, in …


Giving Voice To The Underserved: A Review Of How Lower-Income Virginians Fared In The 2012 Virginia General Assembly, Christie Marra, H. Timothy Perry Jan 2012

Giving Voice To The Underserved: A Review Of How Lower-Income Virginians Fared In The 2012 Virginia General Assembly, Christie Marra, H. Timothy Perry

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

In 2011, the Census Bureau, after sixteen years of study, released a new, more comprehensive calculus to better gauge poverty in America. This "Supplemental Poverty Measure" (the "SPM") calculates the poverty threshold by estimating not only the cost of food, but also expenses related to clothing, shelter, utilities, and medical costs." Further, the SPM makes adjustment for cost of living, depending upon where the family resides, and also takes into account governmental support, such as food stamps and tax credits, to determine income. Logically, more accurate data on poverty distribution by region, and a more precise measure of the effects …


Giving Voice To The Underserved: A Review Of How Lower-Income Virginians Fared In The 2012 Virginia General Assembly, Christie Marra, H. Timothy Perry Jan 2012

Giving Voice To The Underserved: A Review Of How Lower-Income Virginians Fared In The 2012 Virginia General Assembly, Christie Marra, H. Timothy Perry

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

In 2011, the Census Bureau, after sixteen years of study, released a new, more comprehensive calculus to better gauge poverty in America. This "Supplemental Poverty Measure" (the "SPM") calculates the poverty threshold by estimating not only the cost of food, but also expenses related to clothing, shelter, utilities, and medical costs." Further, the SPM makes adjustment for cost of living, depending upon where the family resides, and also takes into account governmental support, such as food stamps and tax credits, to determine income. Logically, more accurate data on poverty distribution by region, and a more precise measure of the effects …


Has A New Day Dawned For Indigent Defense In Virginia?, Robert E. Shepherd Jr. Nov 2007

Has A New Day Dawned For Indigent Defense In Virginia?, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.


Legal Issues Involving Children, Robert E. Shepherd Jr. Nov 2003

Legal Issues Involving Children, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.


Keynote Address: Social Justice Week 1997, Peter Edelman Jan 1997

Keynote Address: Social Justice Week 1997, Peter Edelman

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

I am pleased to be here not just to talk about the question of what happens to poor people under the new welfare legislation, but also because you have asked me to speak as part of your Social Justice Week. It is very important that you have Social Justice Week and that so many people are so interested in participating. As I will say in more detail later, it is urgent that we get beyond the debate over welfare at the same time as we pay careful attention to the implementation of the new welfare legislation. Our real effort has …


Welfare Reform And Unitended Consequences: Its Impact On A Local Child Protection Program, Larry Nackerud, Nicole Deets, Curtis Kleem, Alicia Isaac Jan 1997

Welfare Reform And Unitended Consequences: Its Impact On A Local Child Protection Program, Larry Nackerud, Nicole Deets, Curtis Kleem, Alicia Isaac

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The Act represents a fundamental shift in the relationship between the federal government, the fifty states, and persons living in poverty. A shift of this magnitude cannot be analyzed properly without considering the significant impact of unintended consequences that may result from the new policy. Often, unintended consequences occur when two different policies, in this case, public welfare and child protective services, collide. One such possible unintended consequence of this policy shift may be to reduce the effectiveness of a successful child protection …


Virginia As A Model For Other State Welfare - Plans Virginia's Welfare Reform: Current Law And Effects, Laura Piper Jan 1997

Virginia As A Model For Other State Welfare - Plans Virginia's Welfare Reform: Current Law And Effects, Laura Piper

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

In 1995, Virginia became the first state to submit a comprehensive statewide welfare reform plan to the federal government.The crusade for a more effective Virginia welfare system was led by Governor George Allen.The federal government granted Virginia numerous waivers from federal regulations enabling Virginia to implement the Virginia Independence Plan ("VIP") and the Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare ("VIEW") component.According to the Virginia Department of Health and Human Resource's 1996 annual report, because of VIP and VIEW the number of welfare recipients decreased, employment rates increased and taxpayers saved 24 million dollars. On February 1, 1997, in response to …


Welfare Reform, Work-Related Child Care, And Tax Policy: The "Family Values" Double Standard, Mary L. Heen Jan 1997

Welfare Reform, Work-Related Child Care, And Tax Policy: The "Family Values" Double Standard, Mary L. Heen

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The welfare reform legislation signed into law last year repeals the entitlement to welfare and imposes strict time limits on the receipt of benefits. Although federal work requirements have been in effect for nearly thirty years, the new law requires the states to meet more stringent work participation levels and makes the work requirements applicable to mothers with younger children.The shift in the welfare paradigm toward mandatory wage work for mothers with young children has not been accompanied, however, by a corresponding policy shift toward universal or affordable child care.


Keynote Address: Social Justice Week 1997, Peter Edelman Jan 1997

Keynote Address: Social Justice Week 1997, Peter Edelman

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

I am pleased to be here not just to talk about the question of what happens to poor people under the new welfare legislation, but also because you have asked me to speak as part of your Social Justice Week. It is very important that you have Social Justice Week and that so many people are so interested in participating. As I will say in more detail later, it is urgent that we get beyond the debate over welfare at the same time as we pay careful attention to the implementation of the new welfare legislation. Our real effort has …


Welfare Reform, Work-Related Child Care, And Tax Policy: The "Family Values" Double Standard, Mary L. Heen Jan 1997

Welfare Reform, Work-Related Child Care, And Tax Policy: The "Family Values" Double Standard, Mary L. Heen

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

The welfare reform legislation signed into law last year repeals the entitlement to welfare and imposes strict time limits on the receipt of benefits. Although federal work requirements have been in effect for nearly thirty years, the new law requires the states to meet more stringent work participation levels and makes the work requirements applicable to mothers with younger children.The shift in the welfare paradigm toward mandatory wage work for mothers with young children has not been accompanied, however, by a corresponding policy shift toward universal or affordable child care.


The Earned Income Tax Credit And Welfare Reform, James Williams Jan 1997

The Earned Income Tax Credit And Welfare Reform, James Williams

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

The focus of this paper is the EITC and its important role in welfare reform. The current welfare system has been criticized on the grounds that it does not promote and encourage work. Critics also claim that welfare welfare is ineffective in reducing poverty, especially among children. The EITC addresses several of these complaints. First, the EITC "[i]s strongly pro-work. Only working families qualify for it. In addition, unlike welfare benefits, EITC payments rise rather than fall with earnings across that critical low-income range where we want to encourage work effort." Proponents of the EITC, such as Senator Bill Bradley …


Reinventing Human Services In America, David Stoesz Jan 1997

Reinventing Human Services In America, David Stoesz

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

Passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWOA) of 1996 presents an opportunity to reinvent human services in America. For more than a decade, the welfare bureaucracy and public assistance programs of state welfare have been in crisis. The clients who depend on welfare detest it, finding and keeping qualified professionals to work in the public social services has become an administrative headache, and taxpayers perceive welfare as a fiscal black hole that perpetuates immorality. The recent decision to "devolve" welfare in a block grant to states underscores the urgency to rethink public assistance to poor families. There …


Rethinking Welfare In The Age Of Devolution, David Tuerck Ph.D., William F. O'Brien Jr., Ph.D. Jan 1997

Rethinking Welfare In The Age Of Devolution, David Tuerck Ph.D., William F. O'Brien Jr., Ph.D.

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

In August 1996, President Clinton signed the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), landmark welfare-reform legislation that curtails benefits and shifts the responsibility for distributing welfare benefits from the federal government to the states. The new law reflects the public's dissatisfaction with the federal administration of welfare entitlements and, indeed, with the very idea of welfare entitlements. PRWORA embodies the concept of devolution: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and child care block grants replace Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) entitlements and a host of other aid programs. Under the law, "[e]xcept as expressly provided …


The Earned Income Tax Credit And Welfare Reform, James Williams Jan 1997

The Earned Income Tax Credit And Welfare Reform, James Williams

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The focus of this paper is the EITC and its important role in welfare reform. The current welfare system has been criticized on the grounds that it does not promote and encourage work. Critics also claim that welfare welfare is ineffective in reducing poverty, especially among children. The EITC addresses several of these complaints. First, the EITC "[i]s strongly pro-work. Only working families qualify for it. In addition, unlike welfare benefits, EITC payments rise rather than fall with earnings across that critical low-income range where we want to encourage work effort." Proponents of the EITC, such as Senator Bill Bradley …


Rethinking Welfare In The Age Of Devolution, David Tuerck Ph.D., William F. O'Brien Jr., Ph.D. Jan 1997

Rethinking Welfare In The Age Of Devolution, David Tuerck Ph.D., William F. O'Brien Jr., Ph.D.

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

In August 1996, President Clinton signed the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), landmark welfare-reform legislation that curtails benefits and shifts the responsibility for distributing welfare benefits from the federal government to the states. The new law reflects the public's dissatisfaction with the federal administration of welfare entitlements and, indeed, with the very idea of welfare entitlements. PRWORA embodies the concept of devolution: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and child care block grants replace Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) entitlements and a host of other aid programs. Under the law, "[e]xcept as expressly provided …


Charitable Choice: Will This Provision Of Welfare Reform Survive Constitutional Scrutiny?, Joel Weaver Jan 1997

Charitable Choice: Will This Provision Of Welfare Reform Survive Constitutional Scrutiny?, Joel Weaver

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This article explores the controversy that may arise as states and local governments begin to forge business relationships with religious organizations. Specifically, this article analyzes the continuing attempt by the Supreme Court to define policy concerning these relationships. Section II begins with a discussion of Establishment Clause jurisprudence. This part traces the Supreme Court s movement from a policy of strict separation of church and state towards one based more on neutrality. Section III examines the impact of this standard on interpretation of the "charitable choice" provision. Section IV concludes by suggesting that state legislatures proceed cautiously when enacting laws …


Reinventing Human Services In America, David Stoesz Jan 1997

Reinventing Human Services In America, David Stoesz

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWOA) of 1996 presents an opportunity to reinvent human services in America. For more than a decade, the welfare bureaucracy and public assistance programs of state welfare have been in crisis. The clients who depend on welfare detest it, finding and keeping qualified professionals to work in the public social services has become an administrative headache, and taxpayers perceive welfare as a fiscal black hole that perpetuates immorality. The recent decision to "devolve" welfare in a block grant to states underscores the urgency to rethink public assistance to poor families. There …


Virginia As A Model For Other State Welfare - Plans Virginia's Welfare Reform: Current Law And Effects, Laura Piper Jan 1997

Virginia As A Model For Other State Welfare - Plans Virginia's Welfare Reform: Current Law And Effects, Laura Piper

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

In 1995, Virginia became the first state to submit a comprehensive statewide welfare reform plan to the federal government.The crusade for a more effective Virginia welfare system was led by Governor George Allen.The federal government granted Virginia numerous waivers from federal regulations enabling Virginia to implement the Virginia Independence Plan ("VIP") and the Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare ("VIEW") component.According to the Virginia Department of Health and Human Resource's 1996 annual report, because of VIP and VIEW the number of welfare recipients decreased, employment rates increased and taxpayers saved 24 million dollars. On February 1, 1997, in response to …


Welfare Reform And Unitended Consequences: Its Impact On A Local Child Protection Program, Larry Nackerud, Nicole Deets, Curtis Kleem, Alicia Isaac Jan 1997

Welfare Reform And Unitended Consequences: Its Impact On A Local Child Protection Program, Larry Nackerud, Nicole Deets, Curtis Kleem, Alicia Isaac

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The Act represents a fundamental shift in the relationship between the federal government, the fifty states, and persons living in poverty. A shift of this magnitude cannot be analyzed properly without considering the significant impact of unintended consequences that may result from the new policy. Often, unintended consequences occur when two different policies, in this case, public welfare and child protective services, collide. One such possible unintended consequence of this policy shift may be to reduce the effectiveness of a successful child protection …


Charitable Choice: Will This Provision Of Welfare Reform Survive Constitutional Scrutiny?, Joel Weaver Jan 1997

Charitable Choice: Will This Provision Of Welfare Reform Survive Constitutional Scrutiny?, Joel Weaver

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This article explores the controversy that may arise as states and local governments begin to forge business relationships with religious organizations. Specifically, this article analyzes the continuing attempt by the Supreme Court to define policy concerning these relationships. Section II begins with a discussion of Establishment Clause jurisprudence. This part traces the Supreme Court s movement from a policy of strict separation of church and state towards one based more on neutrality. Section III examines the impact of this standard on interpretation of the "charitable choice" provision. Section IV concludes by suggesting that state legislatures proceed cautiously when enacting laws …