Welfare reform fails single mothers' kids.

• Position: Your Life

Welfare reform successfully has moved millions of single mothers into the workforce, but has failed to improve living conditions for their young children, according to findings by researchers from Stanford (Calif.) University; Columbia University, New York; Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; and the University of California-Berkeley. "We discovered that moving women into low-wage jobs is simply no guarantee that families will be better off or that young children will grow up in more nurturing homes," indicates study co-director Bruce Fuller, an associate professor at UC-Berkeley.

The Growing Up in Poverty Project followed 700 single mothers for up to four years after they entered new welfare programs in California, Connecticut, and Florida. While it confirmed earlier findings that most had found new jobs, their families largely remained in poverty, with the average mother earning just over $12,000 a year. "If welfare reform is to be truly successful, somehow work must pay--for children, as well as for mothers," the report concludes.

According to the study, over the long term, working mothers earned just $100 to $133 a month more than women who remained on welfare, notes Susanna Loeb, assistant professor of education at Stanford and a co-director of the study...