Variations in Maternal and Child Well-Being among Financially Eligible Mothers by TANF Participation Status

We use baseline and one year follow-up data from the national Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to compare levels of hardship across the following groups of TANF-eligible mothers: those receiving TANF at the time of the follow-up interview; those who had received TANF during the year but left the rolls possibly because they were sanctioned or hit term limits; those who had received TANF during the year but left the rolls, were not sanctioned, and could not have hit term limits; and those who had not participated at all. We find that 45% of eligible mothers do not participate in TANF, that all groups of eligible mothers have high levels of hardship, and that TANF leavers who were sanctioned or may have hit term limits are markedly worse off at one year than any other group in terms of both extreme material hardship and poor mental health.